Breaking Views Update: Week of 16.11.25

Friday November 21, 2025 

News:
Changes for schools and universities
Parliament has passed the Education and Training Amendment Act 2025, which brings in some important changes for schools and universities.

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 

                    ⇩

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.

Dr Michael Bassett: Whose Auckland Festival

As I was looking over the programme for next March’s Auckland Arts Festival I was struck by the large number of events with a Maori theme. Open the cover and the introduction is headed Toitu Te Reo with a large piece of text in Maori. Then Ihi. Wehi. Mana featuring a group of Maori adorned with stick-on chin tattoos. Then He Manu Tioriori follows with a further long burst in Te Reo. Then ONO with Moana & the Tribe, featuring another column of Te Reo. And there’s a “free” Whanau Day for the citizens of Tamaki Makaurau!

Graham Adams: Stanford Redeems Herself With Reverse Ferret

Furore over Treaty flip-flop boosts her credentials.

A “reverse ferret” refers to someone suddenly taking a dramatically different position on a particular issue — as Erica Stanford did last week with her screeching u-turn over removing the most prominent of the Treaty clauses in the Education and Training Act (2020).

Matua Kahurangi: The shocking truth about John Tamihere and Waipareira Trust

John Tamihere has spent decades selling himself as a champion of the underdog, a tireless advocate for Māori and community empowerment. He parades on stage, dominates media debates, and paints himself as the voice of the marginalised. As Duncan Garner lays bare in his recent podcast, the reality is far uglier.

Chris Lynch: Government digital ID plan raises new privacy concerns

A civil liberties organisation has raised fresh concerns about the Government’s plan to introduce a national digital identity system, warning it could erode personal freedom and place new pressures on New Zealanders to adopt a single digital pathway for essential services.

Andrew Moran: Is the Global Economy Preparing for Another Inflation Wave?

If you don't learn from history, you're doomed to be a Keynesian.

An inflation wave is coming, and it will not be because of tariffs. In the United States and the rest of the world, governments and central banks are preparing to fill the pool with red ink and grease up the printing presses. Whether out of fear that the global economy is on the brink of a recession or conditions need a boost, recent actions and proposals signal policymakers think something is on the horizon.

Dr Eric Crampton: How to improve the emissions trading scheme

Announcements earlier this month make the Emissions Trading Scheme a bit less credible over the longer term. The problem can be fixed – and relatively easily. But it should be fixed.

First, a bit of background.

Bob Edlin: DOC, a fire-ravaged national park and the healing powers of rahui....

DOC, a fire-ravaged national park and the healing powers of rahui – but who decides we need 10 years of such healing?

PoO today was minded to check out a bit of conservation legislation and wonder why it is not likely to be as effective as a rahui.

 Wednesday November 19, 2025 

                    ⇩

Karl du Fresne: What privilege sounds like in 2025

We hear a lot about privilege these days. We’re told it’s an economic and political weapon that an affluent, selfish, male-dominated white capitalist society uses to keep disadvantaged minority groups in their place.

Wrong. Privilege in New Zealand in 2025 is the phenomenon that enables a small, effete and highly politicised media elite, cushioned by public funding, to capture and monopolise a crucial organ of public opinion and seek to influence the course of public debate.

Fiona MacKenzie: The “Land Back” Pogrom — Most Kiwis Don’t See It Coming

(Note: To reduce word count and aid understanding, Māori words have been omitted where possible.)

New Zealanders who pay attention to the slow creep of our political and legal institutions have every reason to feel uneasy. Many believed the 2023 election would halt the advance of racial division and restore a government committed to equal citizenship. Instead, the Coalition—particularly the National Party —seems schizophrenically determined to avoid offending those who demand ever-expanding tribal privilege. Far from dismantling race-based policy, it is still normalising it in much legislation and policy.

NZCPR Newsletter: A Media Crisis

Dr Julie Posetti, a Professor of Journalism at the City University of London, described the growing scandal over editorial bias at the BBC as an “existential crisis”.

She warned: “You cannot have democracy without credible public interest media.”

David Round: Thoughts for our Time - Article 14

Prediction is hard ~ especially, as Yogi Berra is alleged to have said, about the future. Harold MacMillan, when asked what politicians fear the most, replied ~ ‘Events, dear boy, events’. Who has a crystal ball? International events ~ war, the interruption of overseas trade, financial calamity ~ even something a simple as the breakdown of the internet, or the actions of Artificial Intelligence ~ could fundamentally alter everything tomorrow. We might be flooded with refugees, or we might be the only people left in the world. We might all pull together in an emergency, or we might all tear ourselves apart. There might be a new pandemic, or climate catastrophes. A decent earthquake could destroy us overnight ~ without electricity for any length of time, without vital roads and bridges and the electronic systems we all rely on all the time ~ not to mention cooked meals and electric light and hot water ~ we would be plunged back into the dark ages. They say that only nine meals, three days, stand between civilisation and violence. A serious widespread drought would take only a bit longer.

Matua Kahurangi: Time for New Zealand to grow some balls on criminal deportations

New Zealand has always prided itself on being welcoming and fair, but fairness cuts both ways. If people choose to come here and build a life, they also choose to respect our laws and the social contract that holds this country together. When they break that contract in a serious way, our current immigration rules are far too soft. It is time for New Zealand to grow some balls and start treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Mike's Minute: Can the Opportunity Party succeed?

Well, welcome back Opportunity. I think I have that right.

Opportunity is the former "The Opportunities Party". Now it's just "The Opportunity Party".

It has a new leader and a new tax policy. They have been looking for a leader for ages and they even advertised.

None of this is a good sign.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: National's strategy is looking riskier by the day

These polls that keep showing Labour ahead of National are a sign of how crap the economy is.

Up until a few weeks ago, I was ignoring polls because Labour didn't have any policy. Labour was ahead, but it didn't have any policy.

Andrew Dickens: If we don't want congestion charges, give us alternatives

On the front page of the New Zealand Herald today there was a poll, and it shows that we're split as a nation on the issue of capital gains tax. So, the question for us here in this room and you in your room and all of us together is, should we have another discussion on the CGT?

And my answer to that is, of course not. And why?

Professor Paul Spoonley: Latest numbers show NZ now at risk of population stagnation...

Growing, going, gone: latest numbers show NZ now at risk of population stagnation

A year after the 2023 census, changes were already taking place in New Zealand’s population that meant the data was in danger of being superseded.

Fertility was continuing to decline, the number of immigrants arriving was beginning to climb, there was an exodus of New Zealand citizens, Māori made up more of the population and Asian communities were continuing to grow.

Chris Lynch: Government announces major cut to vehicle importing charges to keep car prices down

A reduction in the cost of importing new and used vehicles has been announced, with the Government introducing changes it says will help prevent higher prices being passed on to New Zealand buyers.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the update to the Clean Vehicle Standard aims to ease pressure on importers at a time when families are already struggling with rising costs.

Lindsay Mitchell: Latest benefit data - Three observations

The latest monthly benefit data was released yesterday.

Here are three observations.

There are more Cook Islanders on benefits in New Zealand than the Cook Island's entire working-age population

Cook Island's resident population doesn't fluctuate much.

Matua Kahurangi: Justice by tikanga? Not for Kapa-Kingi, she prefers the colonial courts

It is pretty funny to watch Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, the ousted Te Pāti Māori MP, trot off to the courts to challenge her expulsion from the party. The very courts she now seeks help from are the colonial structures that most Māori politicians today seem to despise. We are constantly told that Māori want to settle matters through tikanga, that uniquely Māori approach to justice, that we should deal with things in a way that reflects our values and customs.

So where is that approach here? Nowhere.

Tuesday November 18, 2025 

                    ⇩

Geoff Parker: Kiwis need to be more forthright - Silence is Surrender

For too long, New Zealanders have watched in silence as governments of all stripes have chipped away at the principle that every citizen should stand equal before the law. The steady advance of race-based governance, special rights, parallel systems, and political power granted on the basis of ancestry has gone virtually unchallenged by the everyday New Zealander. That era has to end. This country won’t fix itself, and it certainly won’t return to democratic equality if the public continues to whisper their frustrations privately while remaining silent publicly.

Ryan Bridge: What Kiwis think of a CGT

Couple of things from this morning's poll on CGT.

Basically, we're evenly split.

As many of us are in favour of Labour's plan as are against it.

The results are interesting, though. The details.

Chris Lynch: New poll shows cost of living remains top concern and government performance sinks to record low

A new Ipsos Issues Monitor poll has revealed that New Zealanders are most concerned about the cost of living, with public confidence in the government falling to its lowest level since tracking began.

The October 2025 report, based on responses from 1004 people between 21 October and 30 October, has shown that 61 percent of New Zealanders see inflation and the cost of living as the most important issue facing the country.

Matua Kahurangi: Jacinda Ardern - New Zealand’s most hated export - live in London, because she can’t show her face at home

Picture this: a cozy Sunday afternoon in late November 2025, the kind where London’s fog clings to the Thames like a bad hangover. At some upscale venue, details fuzzy because who needs transparency when you’re selling inspiration, Jacinda Ardern will grace the stage for a How To Academy event titled A Different Kind of Power. There, in a fireside chat hosted by comedian Bill Bailey, she’ll regale a fawning audience with tales of empathetic leadership, her “compassionate” response to the Christchurch mosque attacks, her pandemic “heroics”, and the trials of being a mum in the spotlight. Tickets start at what feels like a small fortune, with premium ones tossing in a copy of her shiny new memoir. Subscribers get a discount because nothing says “people power” like paywalls and perks for the elite.

David Farrar: Labour’s record of terrible Police appointments

Unlike other public service entities who are appointed by the Public Service Commissioner, the Commissioner and statutory Deputy Commissioners of Police are selected by the Prime Minister. There are usually multiple qualified candidates, and they get to pick the one that they think will do the best job.

And Labour’s record is almost beyond belief – they managed to pick four “duds” in a row. Not one, not two, not. three but all four of their appointments turned out to be seriously flawed.

Mike's Minute: Tariff backdown is a big win for NZ Inc.

Big win for NZ Inc. and a lesson for everyone who doesn’t understand tariffs.

Donald Trump has cut tariffs on beef and the beneficiaries are largely New Zealand, Australia and Brazil.

Brazil has had a 50% tariff so they will be thrilled.

Pee Kay: He Was….

…Ardern’s personal choice!

The New Zealand Police Commissioner is appointed by the Governor- General based on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

He was…according to Ardern, “Going to lead a team of 13,000 people across the country with positivity, inclusion and integrity” WRONG!!! AGAIN!!!

Ian Wishart: How is Jacinda Ardern so sure about the impending climate disaster?

Ardern – tipped as a probable candidate for the UN’s top job in the new unauthorised biography, Jacinda: The Untold Stories – was being interviewed by BBC’s Ione Wells at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, when she was asked about how to get urgency across as a leader in the face of public backlash:

Ani O'Brien: Rot Part 3 - Coster's legacy and the political fallout

Part Three: What the McSkimming scandal means for politics in New Zealand

When corruption takes root in our institutions, it doesn’t stay contained. It spreads quietly, politically, sometimes strategically, and sometimes like a weed growing uncontrolled and putting down roots. The scandal now engulfing the Police isn’t just about bad cops or weak leadership. It’s about the decisions, alliances, and cowardice that allowed that culture to fester for years right under the noses of ministers, journalists, and senior bureaucrats who should have stopped it.

DTNZ: U.S. removes extra tariffs on key NZ agricultural exports

Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has cautiously welcomed the United States’ decision to remove additional reciprocal tariffs on several major Kiwi agricultural exports, including beef, offal and kiwifruit — goods that make up roughly a quarter of New Zealand’s US-bound exports and are worth about NZ$2.21 billion a year.

Damien Grant: Are we in the process of a new post-industrial tech revolution or is AI a massive hype-driven bubble?

Are we in the process of a new post-industrial technological revolution or is the Artificial Intelligence a massive hype-driven bubble that is going to collapse in dramatic style, carrying away billions, or perhaps trillions, of value with it?

If you were hoping I had the answer, well, I’d lose a stock-picking contest with a dart-throwing monkey so best not take investment advice from me. But someone who might know is Michael Burry.

Monday November 17, 2025 

                    ⇩

Barrie Davis: Maori Myths - Colonial Realities

Ani Mikaere published He Rukuruku Whakaaro in 2011 which considers the effect of Maori customs, obligations and practice (tikanga) on European law, legal processes and teaching in New Zealand.

Mikaere’s book has had indirect influence on legal and policy developments through academic, judicial, and iwi-led channels. Her critique of Crown Law and advocacy for tikanga as a legal framework has contributed to acceptance of tikanga Maori in New Zealand’s legal system. Her writings have influenced iwi negotiators and Waitangi Tribunal members and are used in law schools, public sector education, and public service cultural competency programs.

David Round: Thoughts for our Time - Article 13

Although it may be a slight digression from the main direction of these columns ~ and I risk being accused of being part of a ‘white feeding frenzy’, in the words of the head honcho of one of the growing number of Maori Parties ~ it may be of interest to consider several recent ‘reports’ about what a dreadful country we are.