Judy Gill: A Sacred Lie - The Rise Of Spiritual Politics In NZ Education

I am not a political figure. I have never stood for office, never joined a party, never published in any mainstream outlet until recently. I am simply a parent living on Waiheke Island, trying to raise my son in peace, in reason, and in freedom. I do not want my son to attend a Christian school, nor do I want to homeschool him. I want what used to be normal in NZ: a secular, neutral education free from religious or spiritual instruction.

And yet, today, that is no longer available to my child.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 13.7.25

Saturday July 19, 2025 

News:
How a local website was hijacked and filled with AI-generated 'coherent gibberish'
The headline states: "This valley is no longer safe for overnight stays - and DOC isn't explaining why."

The story that follows conjures a scene from a horror film. Something odd has been going on in Whakataki valley east of Mount Aspiring National park, it is claimed.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: I thought National was supposed to be good with our money?

I’ll tell you why I don’t like the money we’re spending on Sunny Kaushal and the Retail Crime Advisory Group: it’s not a good deal.

I haven’t got a problem with Sunny Kaushal, but he was offering his ideas to the Government for free.

If someone offers you something for free and you then decide to pay for it, that is a bad deal.

Insights From Social Media:

Only the beginning of maori rule - by Unknown

Prior to European settlement, Maori squatted on land and resources until a stronger tribe invaded, killed and ate them. If their own tribe was stronger they invaded, killed and ate their neighbours. Thus Maori existed in a cycle of genocidal warfare amongst themselves and effectively owned nothing. Land and resources belonged fleetingly to whoever had the ability to seize or defend it successfully at a particular point in time.

Centrist: MMP’s weird rule could hand an extra seat to Labour

A by-election in Tāmaki Makaurau could lead to Labour gaining an extra seat in Parliament, not by winning more votes, but because of a strange rule in New Zealand’s MMP system.

Roger Partridge: Revolution by Judicial Decree....

Revolution by Judicial Decree: A Review of Professor Peter Watts KC’s “Ellis v R, A Revolution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Welcome or Not”

Revolutions conjure images of violent uprisings, the storming of institutions, and the forcible overthrow of existing orders. But constitutional foundations can be destroyed through more subtle means. When judges discard long-established constitutional principles and remake the law according to their preferences, they engage in a revolution that may be no less destructive to a nation’s democratic foundations than an uprising in the streets.

Matua Kahurangi: David Seymour is right

ACT Leader David Seymour is standing up for common sense and individual rights by challenging the forced use of karakia in public and professional life. Speaking to the press gallery, Seymour made it clear that spirituality should be personal, not political, and certainly not compulsory.

Kerre Woodham: Prioritising flexible classrooms is the way to go

Around about 30 years from now the AI bot, who will be presenting the 9am to midday show, will announce breathlessly that single-cell classes are to be done away with and open plan classrooms are planned for future school builds to allow greater collaboration between students and teachers. A more relaxed style of learning, yadda yadda yadda – what do you think? 0800 80 10 80, the AI bot will say, because as sure as God made little apples, this is going to come around again.

Bob Edlin: Fringe benefits in the dunnies at IRD raise questions.....

Fringe benefits in the dunnies at IRD raise questions about what staff can say without upsetting the rainbow bunch

Free speech is under threat in Britain because people feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, according to research for the Commission for Countering Extremism, which advises the Government.

Moreover, almost half of Britons believe people are too easily offended.

Friday July 18, 2025 

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Heather du Plessis-Allan: Erica Stanford is this Govt's MVP

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Erica Stanford is this Government's MVP.  

Once again, she is taking an inexplicably stupid thing in schools, ditching it, and going back to common sense. 

This is something close to my heart at the moment because I have to make a decision in the next six months or so about which school we send our son to. 

Caleb Anderson: The fusion of opposites and a new age of darkness

The philosopher Hegel identified a process which later came to be known as thesis, antithesis and synthesis. Basically his idea was that when two seemingly conflicting ideas came up against each other, inherent contradictions could be resolved by the thoughtful incorporation (not fusion) of the best elements of both, potentially producing a better outcome than either idea in isolation.

Richard Prebble: Some suggestions to Winston on how he should write to the UN

Mr. Albert K. Barume, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, based in Geneva, wrote to ministers alleging that the Regulatory Standards bill “fails to uphold the principles of partnership, active protection, and self‑determination guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi”.

David Seymour responded expressing the views most of us hold saying: “We neither require nor welcome external lectures on our governance, particularly from bodies whose understanding of our nuanced historical, cultural, and constitutional context is so clearly deficient.”

Dr Will Jones: Britons Believe They Can No Longer Speak Their Minds, Poll Finds

Britons believe they can no longer speak their minds, a poll has found, in the latest indicator of a free speech crisis in the UK, as nearly half of Britons say people are too easily offended. The Telegraph has more.

Free speech is under threat because Britons feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, a study has found.

Ani O'Brien: I am proud to be British 🇬🇧

Is it okay to be proud of one's culture?

It has become fashionable all over the world to scoff at being British.

Mention you’re proud of your British heritage, and watch the room shift uncomfortably. Say you admire the culture that gave us Shakespeare, the Magna Carta, and the Industrial Revolution, and someone will interject with “colonialism!” faster than you can say “tea and scones.” Even in Britain, of all places, the Union Jack is more likely to be associated with shame than with shared identity.

Well, I’m not ashamed.

Chris Lynch: Charity ‘FACT Aotearoa’ accused of partisan election interference faces official scrutiny

New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters has called for answers over the taxpayer funding of FACT Aotearoa, now under scrutiny for potentially breaching the Charities Act by campaigning against the party during the election.

Peter Dunne: National Prime Ministers seem to have a thing about Wellington.

In 2013 then Prime Minister John Key raised the ire of Wellington’s community and business leaders when he told an Auckland audience that the capital city was “dying” and that “we don't know how to turn it around.” He subsequently offered “an unreserved apology” to anyone his remark had offended, adding that “actually Wellington's an extremely vibrant place.”

Dr Eric Crampton: How to solve an empire state of mind

There is a fun sign at the Wairau Road Pak’nSave explaining the store’s story.

The story began in 1987 when Foodstuffs acquired an interest in the land. In 1990, they applied for a resource consent. Nineteen years later, after two failed resource consent applications, a zoning change, a new resource consent, and about four years of litigation, they finally opened.

Things have improved slightly since then. At least it is harder for supermarkets to tie each other up in court over consenting issues.

Dr Eric Crampton: Making sense of the case for compensation in regulatory bill

The Regulatory Standards Bill before Parliament provides no enforceable legal right to compensation for the cost of regulation. It only suggests that compensation can be warranted when regulation takes or impairs property. A sovereign Parliament remains free to ignore that advice, as is made abundantly clear in sections 24 through 26 of the bill.

JC: This Country Needs Strong Leadership

This situation can largely be laid at the door of the current prime minister. Real enthusiasm is lacking. The spark, whereby the good feeling might be lit, is just not there.

The headline of this article has an obvious implication: what we need in terms of leadership is not what we are getting. Why? The answer lies in looking at parliament as a whole. Look at the MPs and the truth is there are very few who could offer strong leadership. Certainly there are none on the left, and regrettably, very few on the right. That is the truth of the matter.

Ele Ludemann: Ending school purgatory

If I was designing purgatory, open plan classrooms would be something on which I might base it.

The idea of several classes and their teachers all being in a single room, with the noise and disruptions that would ensue sounds like a place of suffering rather than learning.

Thankfully the government is ending that educational experiment:

Thursday July 17, 2025 

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Ian Bradford: Further Evidence Human Are Not Causing Global Warming

Further evidence that human emitted carbon dioxide is not causing global warming and no country will ever reach net zero emissions…

At today’s CO2 concentration in the atmosphere of approximately 420 parts per million, CO2 has little ability to absorb heat and is therefore a weak “greenhouse gas.” Its ability to warm the planet and at higher levels of CO2 is very small. As CO2 concentrations increase, its ability to warm the planet decreases rapidly. This means the common assumption that carbon dioxide is the main driver of climate change is no longer true and is scientifically false. More carbon dioxide cannot cause catastrophic global warming or more extreme weather. Neither can methane or nitrous oxide, the levels of which are so small that they are irrelevant to climate.

Clive Bibby: Productivity gains and responsible spending are the key to prosperity

For those of us who recognise the need to balance the nation’s books, politicians who focus on fixing the things that matter are “gold” in the modern era.

I use the term “gold” advisedly because its value is based on its rarity.

In just about every country of the Free World, governments are trapped in a cycle of frivolous spending which only increases national debt to unsustainable levels.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: David Seymour and the UN letter

I’m as interested as anyone on this mystery about whether David Seymour is in trouble over the letter he sent to the UN.

Whether the media reporting is right that the Prime Minister gave Seymour a telling off, or whether David was right that it was just a nice chat, or whether the media reporting is right that Winston is cross with David for sending the letter, or whether David’s right that Winston is fine and is basically going to send the same letter again, or whether Winston is right when he says that’s not true – I’m as interested as you are in what the truth is.

Barrie Davis: New Zealand is Christian

In The Post, 6 July, reporter Sapeer Mayron answers the question: “Was Aotearoa ever a ‘Christian nation’? Short answer: No.” That presupposes that there is something called ‘Aotearoa’ and The Post reporter seeks to realize it by naming it. So, it is propaganda which may be discounted and dismissed.

However, considering the question further reveals how establishing Christianity in New Zealand achieved “the deliberate lifting of a people of lower culture to full equality in political, social, and moral communion with one of the most advanced races in the world.” (Sir Apirana Ngata, 1928)

Insights From Social Media

Why Has Te Pāti Māori Still Not Filed Their Financial Returns? - Steven Mark Gaskell

Is it incompetence, corruption, or just political arrogance?

As of mid-July 2025, Te Pāti Māori has still not filed their financial returns a legal requirement under electoral law. Every other party has. So why the delay?

Here are 7 possible reasons they’re hiding from the public:

David Farrar: Disinformation from Te Pati Maori

Te Pati Maori in a burp of disinformation declared Eric Crampton as the policy mind between the Foreshore & Seabed law and Marine and Coastal Area law. Of course once again the media largely ignore the fact they just tell blatant lies.

Bob Edlin: Where Britain goes, we go?....

Where Britain goes, we go? But let’s hope we don’t follow the Brits on trend towards increased censorship

PoO hasn’t delved too deeply into the methodology, but we note the disturbing trends recorded in the Global Expression Report 2025. Fewer countries are advancing in tolerating freedom of expression.

More than 5.6 billion people have experienced a decline in their freedom of expression over the past 10 years. Scores have sunk in 77 countries, and only 35 countries are now ranked as ‘Open.’

Kerre Woodham: Unforgiving roads lead to devastating consequences

Just how well served or poorly served are we by the engineering and the design of our roads? Residents of Waiuku are reeling after a crash yesterday that has left an adult and two children dead. Some locals say they've been calling for safety measures to be introduced on Masters Rd, known as ‘roller coaster road’, for years.

Chris Lynch: Government halts council plan changes ahead of major planning system overhaul

The Government is moving to stop councils from carrying out time-consuming and expensive plan changes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), as it prepares to replace the outdated law with a new planning system.

Philip Crump: Australian PM Albanese Walks Diplomatic Tightrope

Anthony Albanese is in China chasing trade deals as Australia undertakes its largest ever military exercise aimed at countering Chinese aggression.

As the Auckland Business Chamber hosts the China Business Summit this Friday, featuring keynote addresses from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Chinese Ambassador Wang Xiaolong, the Pacific region grapples with a complex interplay of economic ambition and escalating security concerns.

Graham Adams: Hipkins’ role as Covid czar thrust into spotlight

When Chris Hipkins replaced Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister in January 2023, the legacy media preposterously promoted him as a new broom. By promising a “policy bonfire” of some of the issues that had led to Labour’s plunging popularity, he somehow persuaded journalists to overlook the fact he had been Jacinda Ardern’s faithful lieutenant and confidant for five years in government.

Ele Ludemann: Councils must refocus

The government is telling councils to refocus on needs not wants :

The Government’s plan to refocus councils on core services, such as roading, core infrastructure, water, and rubbish, has taken a major step forward with the introduction of the Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill to Parliament.

David Farrar: The scofflaws are at it again

The Herald reports:

Te Pāti Māori has again failed to file its audited financial statements on time, despite being formally warned by police last year.

It’s also yet to provide the Electoral Commission with an audit report for last year’s financial statement.

Wednesday July 16, 2025 

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Matua Kahurangi: More race-based bullsh*t in our universities

ACT MP calls out University of Auckland’s Māori-only job programme

Once again, race-based policies are rearing their divisive head in New Zealand’s public institutions, this time at the University of Auckland. ACT MP Dr Parmjeet Parmar has called out the university over a job listing that appears to blatantly breach the Human Rights Act 1993 by explicitly requiring applicants to be of Māori descent.

John Raine: Let's have some realism about Mātauranga Maori

Traditional Knowledge in Education and Research

The role in the New Zealand education system of Māori traditional knowledge, encompassed in mātauranga Māori (MM), has triggered heated debate around the current Education and Training Act Amendment Bill (No.2) [1]. We are currently at risk of further enshrining in education policy Treaty of Waitangi obligations that have no place in a secular education system. Māori traditional knowledge has a rightful place but must not have a politically driven, sanctified position in school or university curricula.

Insights From Social Media

What can be done? - Steven Mark Gaskell

Te Pati Maori have for the second year in a row , not filled Financial Accounts for its Party.

Under the Electoral Act 1993, registered political parties must file audited financial statements by 30 June each year, and within 15 working days (about mid‑July) to avoid offence .

Judy Gill: OPEN LETTER - Stop Indoctrinating Our Children

Why are toddlers being taught to worship gods from a political mythology, under the guise of “culture”? Why are teachers preaching belief in atua — Māori gods — to children who still believe in Santa Claus?

This letter takes on Jessie Moss of NZEI, one of the ideologues behind the push to replace academic excellence with emotional ideology and religious instruction in New Zealand schools and kindergartens.

Read what’s really happening in early childhood centres.

DTNZ: Collins silent as $32m NZ methane satellite mission fails amid transparency concerns

Space Minister Judith Collins is facing criticism for refusing to comment on the failure of New Zealand’s first taxpayer-funded satellite, MethaneSAT, which lost communication in June after just 15 months in orbit—well short of its intended five-year mission.

John McLean: Cracked Pot Tries To Burn Better Wellington

Utter Nutter Hattotuwa comes in from the Cold

Sanjana Hattotuwa has been busy spying on Wellington local government affairs. He’s gone so far as to produce his very own hot report on a Wellington incorporated society named “Better Wellington Incorporated”.

Chris Lynch: Government unveils bill to refocus councils on core services

The Government has introduced new legislation aimed at refocusing local councils on essential services, responding to growing public frustration over rising rates, bureaucratic expansion, and declining infrastructure.

The Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill was introduced to Parliament this week and is described as a key part of the Government’s wider push to improve performance, transparency, and financial discipline across the sector.

John MacDonald: This is one piece of Rogernomics that makes sense

How about this for an idea?

Instead of the tax people pay on the first $60,000 of their income going to the government, what if it went into a savings account to pay for healthcare and put food on the table when they retire?

It’s an idea being pushed by former finance minister Sir Roger Douglas and University of Auckland economics professor Robert MacCulloch which, they say, is needed because of the ageing population.

Matua Kahurangi: Tory Whanau’s alleged public sex act ignored

Ray Chung faces the backlash instead

Isn't it remarkable that a private email sent by Ray Chung over two and a half years ago is dominating national headlines? The Prime Minister is weighing in, the Porirua Mayor threw in her two cents, and the media are frothing at the mouth. Not a single one of them seems remotely interested in why the email was written in the first place.

Kerre Woodham: Times have changed, does our tax system need to as well?

Yesterday we were talking about Chlöe Swarbrick's grand plans for economic reform, and today brings another interesting suggestion for economic reform, this time from Sir Roger Douglas and Professor Robert MacCulloch. I wonder if now is the time to be seriously looking at reforming our taxation system. Over the years, we've experimented with, we’ve dabbled in various taxes on wealth: estate duties, gift duties, stamp duties on property sales, the sort of things that other countries have and have adapted, but most were eventually abolished.

Tuesday July 15, 2025 

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John Robertson: Whakapapa and the Politics of Pretend - Why Myth Has No Place in Modern Law

There comes a point in every nation’s development where it must decide whether its laws are grounded in objective reality — or in ritual chants and inherited bedtime stories.

In New Zealand, that moment is long overdue.

Ele Ludemann: Voting for right

Peeni Henare will contest the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election for the Labour Party.

This is the seat he lost by just 42 votes in 2023 in a contest over which serious questions still have not been properly answered.

Act, National, New Zealand First and the Greens aren’t standing candidates.

Kerre Woodham: Can there ever be enough nurses?

Starting with some good news on a good news Monday, Health NZ added 2100 nurses and more than 600 doctors to its ranks since the election in March 2025, according to new figures published.

Bob Edlin: Occupational licensing might not provide the protection that is claimed.....

Occupational licensing might not provide the protection that is claimed – and might widen income inequalities, too

People overseas who are considering moving to New Zealand are advised by our immigration authorities to check if they need occupational registration for their jobs.

DTNZ: Russia-West clash not about ideology – Putin

The standoff is only about geopolitical interests, the Russian president has said.

Western nations’ hegemonic aspirations and dismissal of Russia’s security concerns have led to the ongoing standoff between Moscow and the West, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released on Sunday. Ideological differences are only a pretext to advance the West’s geopolitical interests, he claimed.

Matua Kahurangi: The propaganda playbook

How the Ardern government funded online propaganda during COVID

During the Covid pandemic, it was nearly impossible to question the government narrative without being piled on by an army of self-proclaimed experts, keyboard warriors, and smug “trust the science” types. It felt strangely coordinated at the time, as if there was an unspoken campaign to shut down any conversation that strayed from the government’s script. Many suspected that certain voices were being backed and funded to discredit dissent. Now we know that suspicion was not only justified, it was completely accurate.

DTNZ: Business and consumer groups urge Luxon to fix ‘broken’ energy market

A powerful coalition of business and consumer organisations has issued a public plea to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to overhaul New Zealand’s “broken” energy sector.