Breaking Views Update: Week of 9.11.25

Friday November 14, 2025 

News:
DOC, iwi hope to clear up confusion over rāhui
A 10-year rāhui following Tongariro's devastating wildfire is causing confusion according to the Department of Conservation.

The weekend blaze torched almost 3000 hectares in the national park.

David Round: Thoughts for our Time - Article 12

We used to have the Rule of Law in this country. Increasingly it is being replaced by the rule of laws and the rule of lawyers.

The Rule of Law was given its capital letters in the nineteenth century by Professor Dicey, who identified it as requiring legal authority for any actions by officials attempting to interfere with the freedom of citizens. No-one was to be punished ~ to suffer in person or land or goods ~ except after a fair trial before impartial courts of law for a clearly-defined wrong. In the Latin phrase, nulla poena sine lege ~ there was to be no punishment without a law to authorise it. And they were to be clear and definite laws ~ nothing as vague as, say, ‘crimes prejudicial to the state’. Only a minimum of discretion could be allowed to officials. We were to be ruled by law, not by other people’s discretion and whim.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Teacher unions’ ‘colonialism’ cry doesn’t reflect classroom reality

In just two school terms, something remarkable has happened in New Zealand’s primary classrooms. According to data from the Education Review Office, the proportion of students meeting curriculum expectations for phonics knowledge after 20 weeks of schooling has increased from 36 percent to 58 percent, with those exceeding expectations more than doubling.

Phonics knowledge is not itself reading, but it is an important first step. There is every reason to expect improvement to flow through to reading comprehension.

Mike's Minute: Why the increased cost of labour will hurt our economy

In America at the moment there is a lot of talk about the “K” shaped economy.

Car dealers see it. If you have a good, safe job, good income and you're in the markets invested in AI (before it all pops) you are feeling good.

Matua Kahurangi: Ignored and prosecuted - The price of speaking out against a top cop

It’s hard to fathom how the woman who tried to warn police about Jevon McSkimming’s behaviour is still the one sitting in the dock.

A young woman who tried to warn police about one of the country’s most powerful police officers, a man later found to have thousands of images of bestiality and child exploitation material, is the one still being prosecuted.

Matua Kahurangi: Oriini Kaipara’s Tongariro claim is out the gate

When flames tore through Tongariro National Park, most people saw an ecological tragedy. Te Pāti Māori MP and Māori supremacist Oriini Kaipara saw a supernatural sign. She claimed the blaze was a “message” from the late paramount chief Sir Tumu Te Heuheu Tūkino VIII, urging that the land be returned to iwi. “It was gifted in good faith. It’s time to give it back,” she said.

Is she on drugs? Turning a destructive fire into a spiritual endorsement for land transfer is the kind of magical thinking that belongs on the fringes, not in Parliament. It reflects how deeply Te Pāti Māori has drifted from everyday New Zealanders and the realities of governing a modern country. At this stage they should just join up with the Greens, they’re just as delusional.

Kerre Woodham: The McSkimming cover-up is appalling

The revelation that the Deputy Commissioner of Police Jevon McSkimming was a predatory pervert was one thing. To find out that our most senior police officers were complicit in not only covering up his inappropriate behaviour, but then prosecuting, persecuting his victim is quite frankly horrifying.

I knew, many of you knew, Andrew Coster was an ineffectual toadying eunuch. Does anyone remember his one and only hour in the studio when he spoke in slogans and was completely incomprehensible? I couldn't have been more delighted when Police Minister Mark Mitchell moved him on and replaced him with a proper cop, Richard Chambers.

Bob Edlin: PM gets his kicks from youth crime trends while ducking questions about boot camp

Karen Chhour, Minister for Children, was untroubled yesterday handling Parliamentary questions on the “Military-Style Academy Pilot’, which most people prefer to call a “boot camp”.

On the other hand, the PM seemed to struggle with – or did he just duck them? – questions on the same issue.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Unity Was Never the Starting Pointxxx

If Māori leaders want to build something lasting, they’ll need to change their attitudes and allegiances. They’ll need to build trust between hapū – not override it. And they’ll need to engage with history

On Sunday, 9 November 2025, Te Pāti Māori expelled two of its own MPs – Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris – after weeks of internal tension between the party’s elected representatives and its unelected leadership. Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer cited ‘serious breaches’ of the party’s constitution and ‘irreconcilable differences’. The vote was unanimous but here’s the unusual part: Kapa-Kingi’s electorate (Te Tai Tokerau) was excluded from the meeting and Ferris’s electorate (Te Tai Tonga) didn’t vote. That’s not just a procedural quirk – it raises real questions about how representative the process was.

David Farrar: The stupidity of Labour on assets

The Herald reports:

Opposition leader Chris Hipkins is dismissive of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon saying the country needs a “mature” conversation around the potential sale of state-owned assets.

“What would this government do when they’ve run out of things to sell?” Hipkins said, after Luxon spoke positively of a new Treasury report that calls for better management of the country’s $571 billion portfolio of assets.

Thursday November 13, 2025 

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Geoff Parker: One Standard for All - Why Race Has No Place in Modern Law

In a modern democracy, equality before the law should be more than a slogan — it should be the foundation upon which every citizen stands. Yet many of our laws and government policies contain references to race or ethnicity. What might once have been seen as a gesture toward fairness has instead become a barrier to it. Removing all mention of race and ethnicity from legislation would be a bold step toward a truly equal society — one in which citizenship, not ancestry, defines our rights and responsibilities.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We all know how this is going to end for Andrew Coster

Well, I think we can all see how this is going to end for Andrew Coster, and we could see that last night - he's gonna lose his job running a Government agency.

No one in charge can say that yet because of employment law, but it is absolutely going to happen - because there is no way that a man can do what he has done at the highest levels of police and then possibly continue to earn an income from the taxpayer. Him losing his job is the right outcome here.

Ryan Bridge: The clock for Coster is now ticking

Coster is a dead man walking at this point.

Anyone not completely brainwashed during Covid could see there was something a bit off about him - this IPCA report is proof they were right.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: This Will Mean More Victims, Not Fewer

NZ’s social media crackdown

New Zealand is poised to follow France and Australia down a regulatory cul-de-sac – one paved with good intentions and riddled with structural failure. The proposed Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill, which seeks to bar under-16s from accessing social media without verified age checks, is not just ill-considered, it is a textbook example of enforcement-first governance that will generate new harms, empower criminal actors and criminalise the very youth it claims to protect.

Mike's Minute: Gun law debate ends in a whimper, not a bang

It seemed like a thing, until it wasn’t.

Guns are like fluoride and the MSM – they get people angsty.

Out of the Christchurch mosque attack came the idea that gun law needed amending. The amending got another look when ACT came to power because they are libertarians and people with, broadly speaking, a common-sense view of the world.

Melanie Phillips: Getting it

A moving message from a reader

In these very difficult times, when so many people seem to have lost their powers of reason along with their moral compass, I draw strength and comfort from the many people I encounter who remain sane and decent, who are horrified by the onslaught against Israel, the Jews and western civilisation and who understand the connection between them.

I was particularly moved to receive this message from a reader:

Roger Partridge: Heretics in the Temple of Educational Orthodoxy

A Moral Reckoning, Not a Culture War

When my colleague Dr Michael Johnston took the stage at a national education conference late last month, he didn’t expect applause. Johnston, a cognitive psychologist and Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, chaired Education Minister Erica Stanford’s Ministerial Advisory Group reviewing the primary-school English, maths and statistics curricula. He continues to serve on the Ministry’s Curriculum Coherence Group. He was speaking at UpliftEd, a conference organised by the Aotearoa Educators Collective.

Matua Kahurangi: Te Pāti Māori just proved tikanga Is nothing more than mumbo-jumbo

The latest crisis within Te Pāti Māori has exposed the uncomfortable truth. Tikanga talk is just mumbo jumbo. The moment the party’s leadership chooses to run roughshod over iwi voices and democratic process, the whole house of cards comes crashing down.

That 88 iwi apparently made a call for unity asking for cohesion and collective kōrero only for Te Pāti Māori’s national council to ignore, dismiss or override them. The headline tells the story. Iwi called for unity and the party decided to expel MPs instead. There is no illusion. When push comes to shove, tikanga means nothing.

Matua Kahurangi: The rāhui at Tongariro can get whakd’

Once again, the rest of New Zealand is being told to stay off land that actually belongs to all of us. This time it’s Tongariro, one of our most iconic landmarks, closed under a rāhui that nobody voted for and nobody knows when it will end.

Bob Edlin: The call for a mature conversation about asset sales....

The call for a mature conversation about asset sales – Luxon is up for it, but what about Hipkins?

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has expended some of his huff and puff today to rail against Christopher Luxon for wanting to discuss something that should be discussed.

David Farrar: IPCA slates Police cover up of McSkimming allegations

The IPCA has released a report so damning of the Police, that the Government has announced there will be an enhanced oversight body – the Inspector-General of Police.

This is not to do with the objectionable material that was found on his work devices. This is about the original complaint. I heard the basic details of this around six months ago, so it is good to be able to now write about it.

Wednesday November 12, 2025 

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Ryan Bridge: NZTA - the Grinch that stole Christmas

A few years ago, we had a bunch of stories about Santa parades getting cancelled because of red tape and traffic management.

NZTA was the Grinch that stole Christmas.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Expect this asset sales debate to get heated

Well, entirely predictably, the debate about selling state assets has already kicked off ahead of election year - with Winston calling the idea a 'tawdry, silly argument'.

And Chris Luxon then shooting back that Winston's view is not surprising, because he's been there for 50 years, for goodness' sake, he's got a lot of entrenched views.

David Round: Thoughts for our Time - Article 11

We are not in charge. We are being stitched up by a bossy professional class which is metastasizing at the rate of a runaway cancer. Every year there are more laws and regulations telling us what to do and not do. There are not just environmental regulations for farmers and foresters. They are the extra road signs and white lines and cycleways and bus lanes planted everywhere on roads, the physical searches at airports as security men with rubber gloves give us the once over, new regulations about everything, the continual attempts of government agencies to indoctrinate us and tell us what we may and may not think.... The Broadcasting Standards Authority’s bid to ban the description of tikanga as ‘mumbo-jumbo’ is just yet another unsurprising power grab by a handful of overpaid entitled self-righteous bullies.

DTNZ: Cabinet approves sweeping gun law overhaul

Cabinet has approved major reforms to New Zealand’s gun laws, transferring oversight of the Firearms Safety Authority from the Police Minister to the Firearms Minister in a move aimed at improving safety and simplifying compliance for licensed owners.

DTNZ, Social media ban for under-16s to begin before Christmas as petition gains momentum

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed the government’s plan to introduce legislation before Christmas to ban under-16s from accessing social media, signalling his strong support for age verification requirements.

Melanie Phillips: Defund the BBC

Recent revelations show it's betrayed its Charter principles and is a disgrace to journalism

The BBC has long been accused of left-wing bias. However, the revelation that it doctored comments made by US President Donald Trump to make it appear falsely that he promoted the attack on the Capitol on January 6 2021 takes this onto a very different level.

Kerre Woodham: Why put money back in the pockets of users?

So the government's Sunday sessions this year have involved announcements of all sorts of policies, ranging from ho-hum to meaningful.The announcement yesterday of the action plan against organised crime comes under the meaningful. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith released what he called a bold and comprehensive action plan that aimed to disrupt supply, go after those who profit from the drug trade and rebuild communities afflicted by meth, as he outlined to Mike Hosking on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning.

Matua Kahurangi: Kim Dotcom claims Luxon rejected peace offer, teases Covid exposé and new party

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has returned to X following his serious stroke late last year and claims that Prime Minister Chris Luxon has rejected a “peace offer” he made directly to the Government.

Dotcom, 51, is still facing extradition to the United States on multiple charges related to his former file-sharing website Megaupload, which once dominated global internet traffic before it was shut down by US authorities in 2012.

“Peace offer” to the Prime Minister

Eliora: Our Red Remembrance Day This Saturday

The losses experienced in New Zealand over the Covid-19 pandemic and all the nonsense that went with it are incalculable. Some people have been stripped of everything through no fault of their own. Cries of warning were ineffectual.

What happened to these people must never be forgotten!

David Farrar: Waitangi Tribunal is now officially racist

The Waitangi Tribunal has officially recommended that New Zealand have tow standards of citizenship – superior and inferior. This would be based on ancestry.

They recommend:

Mike's Minute: The BBC scandal shakes the roots of journalism

I'm trying to work out what the ratio would be.

How much squeaky clean, beyond doubt, rock solid truth would the BBC need to deliver to offset the one gargantuan cock up that has seen the Director General and Head of News quit?

Or in this day and age, where doubt and mistrust is so high, is it a futile exercise and the damage is permanent?

Dr Don Brash: My Oxford Union Speech

The House believes that the Sun should never have set on the British Empire

Mr/Madame President, I speak in opposition to the motion.

But I also want to acknowledge at the outset that the British Empire did more good things for more people than any other empire in human history.

 Tuesday November 11, 2025 

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Bob Davies: Remembrance Day 2025 - Royal Honours

Remembrance Day is the day we Honour sacrifice: It is a time to remember the service and sacrifice of all who have served, including the loss of life and the impact on families and communities. I would like to dedicate today’s address to my 20 year old friend, Don Bensemann, who was killed in action 57 years ago this Sunday.

Ryan Bridge: Shocks can come any time

Tongariro is a National Park for a reason. It's a stunning part of the country.

The fact is currently on fire is worrying not just because it's a fire and you want fires to be put out, but also because of where it's happening.

Ruapehu/central North island's been taking a hammering lately.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The BBC scandal impacts trust across all media

Well, at least someone's resigned at the BBC.

In fact, two have resigned, both the director general and the boss of news - and the fact that this bias scandal at the BBC has claimed two of the most senior executives there tells you how serious it is.

David Farrar: Te Pati Maori expels two MPs

Te Pati Maori has expelled Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. I can’;’t recall if any party has ever before expelled two MPs at once, let alone a third of their caucus.

What is also unusual is there appears to have been no due process where they get to argue in their defence.

Matua Kahurangi: Iwi heritage claims on private land are a racist rort

If you thought co-governance was bad, wait until you hear about this latest racket. Across Auckland, iwi are quietly working with councils to declare random chunks of privately owned land “culturally significant” and homeowners aren’t even told why.

ACT MP Simon Court exposed this shocking new front in the ongoing war against private property on The Platform last week, where he revealed that iwi are using so-called “heritage provisions” to muscle in on land they don’t own, under the flimsiest possible pretence of “spiritual connection.”

Pee Kay: It might not be about ownership of the water today… but it will be TOMORROW!!!

An article in the Herald headed “Māori group takes freshwater rights fight to court in landmark case against Crown” caught my eye last week .

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/maori-group-take-freshwater-rights-fight-to-court-in-landmark-case-against-crown/

“In a landmark case, a group representing Māori landowners and hapū across the country is fighting the Government in court over freshwater rights.”

Pee Kay: This From the MP Who Ignored a Meeting Request From Erica Stanford!

Not once but 4 times!

Hipkins and the motley crew of the good ship “Incompetence” plumb new depths of hypocrisy with this opinion piece!

Kevin: They Are Passing the Buck

Auckland Central MP Chloë Swarbrick says moving rough sleepers out of the city centre will only shift the problem to another place.

And?

 

Central government and Auckland Council are considering how they can move homeless people out of the CBD ahead of summer.

David Farrar: Exclusive analysis of which parties Maori voters support

At Patreon (paywalled) I have gone through six months of polls, to analyse which parties Maori New Zealanders say they are planning to vote for.

I haven’t done this just on the basis of ethnic identity, but also on the basis of Maori whakapapa (a New Zealanders with at least one Maori ancestor). There is a very significant difference between all those who are whakapapa Maori and those whose primary ethnic identity is Maori.

David Farrar: A very smart move by the Greens

Radio NZ reports:

Former Green MP Kevin Hague is returning to politics to be the party’s new chief of staff.

In a social media post on Thursday, Hague said he was coming “out of retirement” to take up the role after Eliza Prestidge-Oldfield stepped down.

Mike's Minute: Bank margins are going up despite major profits

The battle of the bank BS is back.

BNZ, who announced their profit last week, talked of the strong competition out there.

But I note their margin went up, up, 6 points to 2.43%.

 Monday November 10, 2025 

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NZCPR Newsletter: Tribal Defiance

In the early hours of Thursday 30 October 2025, members of the northern Ngatiwai tribe gathered at the Tutukaka marina for a 22 km boat trip to the Poor Knights Islands.

Ngatiwai is a multi-million-dollar tribal business conglomerate with 8,000 members. Registered as a charity, it pays no tax. Its income is derived largely from fisheries settlements, equity holdings, managed funds, Government contracts, commercial property, and consultation fees. As of 2024, it has an asset base of over $21.3 million and a property portfolio that includes the Oceans Resort Hotel in Tutukaka, the Bland Bay campground, and the Westpac and Warehouse buildings in downtown Whangarei.

Damien Grant: Hipkins’ capital gains tax policy leaves more questions than answers

Periodically my wife will bring home some Ikea-knock-off and expect me to assemble it; or worse find an odd-job around the house that any competent male could easily attend to and instruct me to attend to it.

You would think, after two decades of marriage and many failed handyman assignments, she’d have accepted the limitations of the man she walked down the aisle towards. Acceptance is the key to happiness, according to Epictetus.

David Round - Thoughts for our Time - Article 10

The English Civil Wars, which culminated in the beheading of the king on the 30th of January 1649, had been preceded by a long period of widespread discontent and growing public anger. Four years after coming to the throne, Charles had embarked on what his opponents called the ‘Eleven Years Tyranny’; eleven long years when the king did not once summon a parliament, and attempted to survive financially not by Parliamentary grants but by a variety of increasingly resented expedients ~ the sale of monopolies and honours, forced loans ~ and the king also had the ancient right to imprison without cause, which he imposed on those who did not care to lend him money ~ and the rigorous enforcement of ancient prerogatives, many of which, indeed, had long fallen into disuse and been half forgotten. Prominent among such prerogatives was the right to levy ‘Ship Money’. Originally coastal towns had been obliged to provide ships for the navy, but this had long been commuted to a monetary payment which the king could demand in time of war for the defence of the realm. Parliament alone, of course, had the right to impose new taxes and impositions on subjects, but it was perfectly lawful for the king to exercise rights he already possessed.

Matua Kahurangi: Ngāi Tahu’s gold-plated grift

When “cultural values” become a business model

Kudos to broadcaster Michael Laws for doing what few in the mainstream media dare to do, expose the brazen racket that New Zealand’s most powerful iwi, Ngāi Tahu, have turned “cultural values” into. His recent revelation on The Platform peels back the polished veneer of partnership and exposes what’s really going on behind the bureaucratic curtain, an audacious shakedown masquerading as spirituality.

Dr Eric Crampton: A stadium proposal

A commissioned report released this past week revealed a fact you may find surprising.

Rules stopping a stadium from hosting many events cause an enormous amount of forgone revenue over time. Amounts that can hit the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Dr Prabani Wood: Better health starts with better data

After over 16 years as a GP, I can tell you what keeps me up at night. It is not the long hours or the difficult diagnoses. It is wondering how much of a difference the care I provide makes for my patients.

I know my patients well. I know their histories, their families, their struggles. But I cannot tell you with confidence how many patients I have prevented from attending the emergency department or being admitted to hospital. I am unsure how my referral patterns compare to those of my colleagues.

This is not just my problem. It is New Zealand’s problem.