Michael Reddell: Fiscal starting points

Not that long ago, New Zealand’s fiscal balances looked pretty good by advanced country standards. Sure, the fiscal pressures from longer life expectancies were beginning to build – as they were in most of the advanced world – but in absolute and relative terms New Zealand still looked in pretty good shape.

Matua Kahurangi: Why is it okay for Māori to ask for Māori nurses

But racist when anyone else does the same?

I just read the NZ Herald, so you don’t have to…

So this Māori nurse gets a scribble tattoo on her face, and suddenly, she’s claiming she copping racist abuse from patients. But the real question no one wants to ask is this: Why is it okay for Māori to ask for a Māori doctor or nurse, but if anyone else says they’d prefer someone of their own ethnicity, they’re labelled a racist piece of sh*t?

Kerre Woodham: Would you dob in a meth dealer?

Northland might be the meth capital of New Zealand, but Hawkes Bay wouldn't be far behind. One tiny town – Waipukurau - recorded the biggest increase in meth consumption in the country in 2024. It was up more than 300 percent.

What concerns the local coppers is that the community staying schtum about who's supplying the drug as Inspector Martin James told 1News last night.

Gary Judd KC: District Courts out of line

Chief Justice: Not anticipated that karakia be initiated by court itself

On 30 March 2025 I wrote to the Chief Justice, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice about proposals for karakia to commence and end each District Court sitting day. See It never rains, but it pours for the background, Karakia in judicial proceedings which includes a copy of my letter, and How karakia fit into our justice system which reproduced an article from barrister Warren Pyke summarising why karakia are out of place in the courtroom.

Lindsay Mitchell: What's up with ACT?

I won't even use the C word in Scrabble. It just represents a vulgar low standard never to be stooped to. But I have heard my grown-up kids use it so I guess I am just out-of-touch.

Nevertheless, to hear it used in parliament is in keeping with the tone the Maori Party has set. Except it came from ACT. Which disappoints me.

Kevin: The Quagmire of Pay Equity

I’ve been reluctant to wade into the whole pay equity quagmire, but it’s actually quite easy. But first…

 

Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden said under the previous rules, claims were “able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation”, or without proving the difference in pay was “due to sex-based discrimination or other factors”.

David Farrar: Will Parliament uphold standards?

Radio NZ had a terrible article on the Privileges Committee report.

As you can see below, an incredibly biased emotive article – and one funded by taxpayers!

Mike's Minute: Stop mucking around - remove the foreign buyer ban

OneRoof had a story over the weekend about an apartment in Auckland that is for sale for $17 million.

It was for sale for $16 million, so they have put the price up despite the fact it has been for sale for several years.

They are looking to the international market where $17 million is not a lot of money.

 Monday May 19, 2025 

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Matua Kahurangi: New Zealand’s political trash heap

An autopsy of our broken democracy

Let’s not sugarcoat it. New Zealand’s current political landscape is an absolute embarrassment - a parade of incompetence, identity posturing, and ideological extremism. Our so-called “leaders” have turned Parliament into a circus, with the nation caught in the crossfire of their vanity projects and delusions of grandeur. So here’s my opinion - a brutally honest ranking of the four worst offenders currently occupying seats in Parliament, from catastrophic to merely disappointing.

Peter Hemmingson: The Final English Draft That Torpedoes Treatyism

For more than a century, historians have accepted that the final English draft of the Treaty of Waitangi—the version given to missionary Henry Williams to translate into Māori—was lost to history.

In its place, the New Zealand legal system has long relied on the so-called “English version” inserted into statute law. But that document cannot possibly be the original final draft.

Ani O'Brien: The Greens' vision a pathway to Venezuela

As promised, here is my review of the expenditure portion of the Greens’ alternative budget. Claiming to have found $88 billion in additional revenue thanks to taxing the shizzzzz out of New Zealanders, the Greens have gone to town spending big. It will come as zero surprise that my scepticism over their revenue generation plans carries through to their big spending ideas. This is a critical review, my friends.

Also, I am writing this with a couple of pinots under my belt. The tone will likely differ to that of my first Green budget piece.

Damien Grant: Brooke Van Velden is one of a handful of ministers directly combatting NZ’s decline

We all know what to do, we just don't know how to get re-elected after we've done it” is attributed to former Luxenberg Prime Minister and European Union head Jean-Claude Juncker.

Juncker was referring to the crisis in the Eurozone some two decades past. I don’t know enough about that period to comment further but keep his wisdom in mind as we concentrate on the here and now.

Let’s focus on this week’s heroine; Brooke van Velden, who brought this nation to attention with her response to Stuff columnist’s Andrea Vance’s colourful characterisation of herself, Nicola Willis and others.

David Farrar: Otago Uni votes for institutional neutrality

Otago University announced:

The University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka Council has accepted the recommendations of the Working Group on Institutional Neutrality to adopt a statement on institutional neutrality, and to develop ethical investment and ethical procurement policies. …

“Our University upholds free speech and academic freedom as essential values. By not taking a University wide position on political issues not related to our core roles and functions, we ensure that our community can freely explore, discuss and engage with critical issues,” Mr Robertson explains.

Peter Williams: A Bold Economic Plan

Because news editors probably think it’s boring, the state of our economy and what to do about it doesn’t get as much airtime or column space as it should.

But two recent podcasts - one with former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson and the other with economics professor Rob MacCulloch – tell me this country is in a financial state worse than 1984, the year David Lange’s Fourth Labour government began their radical reshaping of the country’s economy.

Ani O'Brien: Propping up the film sector or stimulating growth?

On Friday night, having imbibed a few wines I strayed onto X to unwisely engage in some (slightly drunk) opinion sharing. I tweeted:

Dr James Allan: Trump’s Lesson in Remedial Education

I have hesitated to respond article-by-article to Roger Partridge’s continuing attacks on the Trump administration beyond my initial response and rebuttal in these pages to his first anti-Trump piece. That was where I argued that Roger’s comparisons of Trump to Hitler, Mussolini and Hugo Chavez were, shall we say, a tad overdone. My general view is that more than a few people on the political Right side of politics (and near on everyone on the Left side) have been infected with a strong dose of TDS, or ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’. All of us can agree or disagree with this or that policy of a US President, including those of President Trump.

Michael Reddell: Ministers of Finance

No, nothing so serious as fiscal policy.

I saw this morning this chart in a tweet from a Canadian economics professor (prompted by the new ministerial appointments in Canada).

Roger Partridge: The bureaucracy or the books

Next week’s Budget is Nicola Willis’s opportunity to prove the government means business about restoring fiscal discipline.

Treasury’s long-term models are flashing red. The International Monetary Fund ranks New Zealand among the worst in the developed world for structural fiscal deficits (the gap between government revenue and spending even when the economy is not in recession). Core Crown spending continues to rise, and debt is on track to spiral without reform.

 Sunday May 18, 2025 

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Insights From Social Media

The consequence of tribalism

Brian Mullane writes > This is the way New Zealand is heading while our government panders to a fake race of non-indigenous Maori who have rewritten their history, their culture, their language, to fit the cheque book the government orders the Reserve Bank to pay them whenever they complain about something.

Matua Kahurangi: Te Pāti Māori has abandoned truth for toxic, dirty politics

Te Pāti Māori has officially tossed aside any remaining credibility in favour of deceit, division and deliberate misinformation.

In what can only be described as a malicious and spineless act, the party posted a completely fabricated quote on social media, attributing to Finance Minister Nicola Willis the words:

Dave Witherow: Brave New World

The past five years have been quite a tonic. So much has changed. So much has vanished: our notions of citizenship, democratic freedom, the limits of authority, our identity as a nation.

This transformation began long ago and grew slowly – sufficiently slowly that most people, if they noticed it at all, were inclined to believe that it wasn’t all bad. What, if you thought about it, could be very wrong with a general loosening of restrictions inherited from earlier and less enlightened times? Why put up with custom and tradition, just because they were customary and traditional?

Zoran Raković: The Illusion of Ownership - Why Your Land May No Longer Be Yours

In New Zealand, land has always been sacred. It’s where we build our homes, raise our families, and pass down security through generations. But today, I offer a sobering warning: the meaning of land ownership in New Zealand is changing—quietly, bureaucratically, and with profound consequences.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 18.5.25

Sunday May 18, 2025 

News:
Supporting safer communities with Māori Wardens
The great work Māori Wardens do to support communities and safety gets a boost in this year’s Budget, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka, Associate Police Minister Casey Costello and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, announced today.

Ani O'Brien: Greens' moral crusade masquerading as an economic plan

This week, the Greens hopped down off their soapboxes, put pen to paper, and authored their very own alternative budget for New Zealand. It must be said it is very similar to their 2024 alternative budget and is exactly what the politically engaged would expect from the Greens. But there are some new policies and its impacts are likely to come as a surprise to some of their passive supporters who just like their green vibes.

Okay. Let’s strip away the political gloss and assess the Green Party’s 2025 budget for what it is: a document heavy on ideology, neo-Marxist buzzwords, and te reo, but dangerously light on pragmatism, economic credibility, and operational realism.

Gary Judd KC: Update on Compulsory Tikanga for law Students

House to debate the issue next Wednesday

I explained in Move to disallow part of tikanga Regs that the effect of the MP Joseph Mooney’s notice of motion was to remove from the regulations the requirement for the teaching and assessment of the general principles and practices of tikanga Māori | Māori laws and philosophy to be included in The Legal System, The Law of Contracts, The Law of Torts, Criminal Law, Public Law, Property Law and Legal Ethics.

Yvonne Van Dongen: The Guilty Leftist

“I don’t believe in pay equity. There - I’ve said it.”

This admission in a text from a friend this week made me laugh. This is what passes for scandalous these days for those of us formerly of the left. Having been catapulted out from our tribe courtesy their gender ideological erasure of women, we don’t know what to think anymore. Gone is the set menu of acceptable views we once unthinkingly shared, gone is the certainty that our side were the kind folk and gone are the kind folk tbh. Not so kind when you don’t agree with them.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: The Green Budget fantasy

New Zealanders should be grateful to any party that clearly outlines its goals, so we welcome the Greens’ presentation of their Green Budget.

That said, what they have presented is more than just a Budget. It is their utopian vision for a different country.

Unfortunately, it is also based on ludicrous assumptions and bad economics.

Dr Benno Blaschke: The ministry of everything, except where it matters

You’ve got to admire MBIE. Really. Most organisations would struggle to be owner, funder, steward, architect, bricklayer and building inspector. But not our Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) – they’ve nailed it. Nailed themselves to the floor, mostly.

Bob Edlin: A fear that tikanga was missing from the internet....

A fear that tikanga was missing from the internet makes way for a fear that Maori are being left out of IT developments

Something called Kauwaka Te Ipurangi – the inaugural national Māori Internet hui – has been giving our indigenous people the opportunity to grapple with information technology.

One News reports:

David Farrar: David Parker’s valedictory

Quite a few interesting things said by David Parker in his valedictory speech:

Dame Anne Salmond describes the Treaty as an exchange of gifts—tuku—between the Queen for her subjects and a rangatira on behalf of hapū. I agree with Dame Anne that Te Tiriti is not a partnership between races. She criticises both the phrase and that legal construct from the decision of Lord Cooke in the 1987 land case. I don’t think those comments from Cooke are a necessary part of the ratio decidendi of that case, and it would be helpful for the senior courts to say so if they are of that view.

 Saturday May 17, 2025 

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DTNZ: Trump ends tariff talks for most nations

Washington will send out letters to some 150 countries instead of striking deals with each individually.

Washington will inform 150 countries of updated tariff rates with the US by post within the coming weeks, US President Donald Trump announced on Friday. It is no longer feasible to meet individually with every country seeking a trade agreement, he explained.

David Farrar: A good win for solidarity

The Herald reports:

Treasury has changed its tune at the last minute and given a handful of organisations the green light to attend next week’s Budget lock-up.

The move follows a legal threat and public pressure over why organisations that had previously been allowed to see embargoed Budget documents, were suddenly barred.

Matua Kahurangi: Hands off Anzac Day

Not long ago, I wrote about the Auckland War Memorial Museum selling rainbow poppies in the lead-up to Anzac Day. They called it a gesture of “inclusivity”. I wonder if they realize that homosexuality was illegal during both World Wars. Men caught engaging in same-sex relationships were dishonourably discharged, jailed, or worse. To now retroactively insert modern identity politics into the legacy of the Anzacs is not just misleading. It is a distortion of history.

Tui Vaeau: Crybabies with Greenstone - Why Te Pāti Māori Got Exactly What They Deserved

So the Maori Party have finally been suspended from Parliament. Good. About time someone had the stones to show these self-absorbed prima donnas the door.

This was not protest. It was petulance. These are elected MPs, not TikTok influencers doing a cultural flash mob. The chamber is for lawmaking, not half-naked theatrics and aggressive chanting masquerading as political speech. If a group of middle-aged accountants burst into a boardroom doing the Macarena over tax policy, they’d be sectioned. But slap the word 'haka' on it and suddenly we’re meant to stand in solemn awe? Bollocks.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 11.5.25

Saturday May 17, 2025 

News:
Walking together: Council, mana whenua and community deepen conservation relationships online
When you visit the newly updated Tiaki Tāmaki Makaurau | Conservation Auckland website, you’re stepping into more than just a page of information; you’re entering a space where mana whenua provides guidance for community conservation within their rohe (tribal area).

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Will we ever get order back into Parliament?

It sounds like Gerry Brownlee thinks that the Māori Party punishment is too harsh.

He started Parliament today with the Speaker's ruling and he dropped some pretty strong hints that he thinks that 21 days without pay for Debbie and Rawiri over that haka is too much.

He called the punishment very 'severe' and unprecedented because up til now, the harshest punishment has been 3 days, not 21 days.

Kerre Woodham: Are the Greens bonkers?

Are the Greens bonkers? The Greens have come out and criticised Judith Collins for tinkering with the Public Service Commission census – that's a voluntary survey run over three weeks and it's a follow up to the initial 2021 survey of the same name. Now Judith Collins and her office had a look at the 2021 survey, and they suggested a few changes. They had thoughts about the census, and they said we don't really need the questions about disability, rainbow identities, religion, te reo Māori proficiency levels, on-the-job training, and agencies’ commitment to the Māori-Crown relationship.

Roger Partridge: All Misogyny Is Bad — Except Ours

We’re told that language matters. That sexist slurs degrade all women, not just their target. And that the use of certain words — the worst words — is never acceptable.

Until, apparently, it is.

JC: Red and Green Make Brown

I was musing over the three colours that go to make up the opposition parties on the left: the terrifying triumvirate that, should they get into power, would bankrupt this country overnight.

I googled the colour you get if you mix red, brown and green and it is brown that is dominant. Mix green and red and you again get brown. Mix green and brown you get a grey-brown colour. Mix red and brown you get a maroon or chestnut colour. So, brown is the dominant colour: red is nowhere to be seen.

Ele Ludemann: PSA takes women back decades

The Public Service Association is shooting itself in the foot with legal action opposing the government’s restrictions on public servants working from home.

One of its arguments is that the move disadvantages women who do the bulk of work caring for children and the elderly and domestic duties.

Mike's Minute: I miss the good old days

I asked Judith Collins yesterday, just what has become of us?

The “us” I was referring to is this country. But I amended that in my mind yesterday afternoon when I read the first review of Jake Tapper's book on Joe Biden.

What's become of all of us, is now the question.

 Friday May 16, 2025 

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John Raine: Closing the Stable Door?

Do we want our children educated or indoctrinated? There has been widespread capture of universities in the Western world, not least in New Zealand, by identity politics and undermining of academic excellence by authoritarian diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agendas. There is now increasing public distrust in the culture of universities and the quality of the graduates that emerge from what were once highly respected institutions.

Peter Hemmingson: Pay Equity Racket

It is disappointing to see ACT’s Brooke van Velden going into bat for tweaking pay equity legislation rather than for blowing it out of the water altogether.

In the annals of modern political fiction, few narratives are more intellectually bankrupt—and more persistently weaponised—than the myth of the gender pay gap. 

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Capital Markets - The missing piece in New Zealand’s growth puzzle

Prime Minister Luxon has declared 2025 ‘the year of growth’, making economic expansion his government’s top priority.

This ambition is laudable, and the government has initiated many important reforms that will help. Changes to education, liberalising foreign investment rules and reforming resource management legislation all aim to enhance our economic performance. These reforms deserve support and, in time, should yield benefits.

Kerre Woodham: Slipping Parliamentary standards are a reflection of us

Well, what a to-do. The image of Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters slumped in the House, head in his hands, summed it up really. Brooke van Velden dropped the C-bomb in the house, quoting a Stuff article whose author used the word in criticising the government's decision to amend the pay equity legislation. The coalition's female MPs are angry that Labour MPs, particularly the female MPs, have not condemned the journalist’s use of the word, which was used as a derogatory in the article.

Bruce Cotterill: Why the so-called Super City hasn’t delivered for Aucklanders

Do you remember the Super City? That gigantic failure of local government policy that saw Auckland’s suburbs surrender their decision-making and their character to the bureaucrats downtown?

By the time our local body elections roll around later this year, it will be 15 years since our seven regional councils were restructured into the so-called Super City under the Auckland Council. There was no referendum on the topic. Just a royal commission on Auckland governance and an enthusiastic Local Government Minister who championed its creation.

Point of Order: The 14-Year Temp Worker - IRD’s $21 Million Long-Term Consultant Spend Exposed

• The Taxpayers’ Union reports –

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal, through an Official Information Act response 12 contractors have been continuously engaged by IRD for more than five years, costing taxpayers a total of $20.8 million over just the past five years.

As Nicola Willis prepares to unveil Budget 2025, the Taxpayers’ Union is calling out the millions still being frittered away on long-term consultants, highlighting one Inland Revenue contractor who has been on the books for a staggering 13 years and 11 months.Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator, Rhys Hurley, said:

JC: Why Do the Left Not Learn

The question is something of a conundrum. I am referring specifically to their behaviour and strategy. From their perspective politics is littered with examples of how these two things hurt them in all sorts of ways. They seem to have become obsessed with the nasty side of politics. They have a propensity to go after the person and not the policy. This fanaticism extends, unsurprisingly, to their comrades in the media who seem to think, irrationally, this is a good idea.

JD: We Want More

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

Let’s start from this general premise: humanity is genetically programmed to want more.

To our ancient ancestors, the difference between no food in the cave and enough for one or several days’ supply was profound. Effectively a matter of life and death. More stuff to hand meant less need to venture out and less chance of succumbing to the many dangers lurking all around.

Ele Ludemann: What will Labour do?

Parliament’s Privileges Committee has recommended a 21-day suspensions for co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi and a seven-day suspension for MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke.

The suspension doesn’t just mean the MPs can’t go to parliament, it also suspends their pay.

That recommendation will go to the House and be voted on by all MPs.