Geoff Parker: Rebuttal to Ella Henry and Andrew Judd - The Treaty Wasn’t a Favour - It Was a Lifeline

In the video What Does It Mean to Be Pākehā in 2025?, Ella Henry and Andrew Judd present the familiar modern narrative: that colonisation was an unprovoked assault on a flourishing Māori world, that Pākehā are “only here because of the Treaty,” and that Māori could have negotiated their own international relationships — even with the French. But this version of history collapses the moment you compare it to the actual record of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The truth is sharper, less romantic, and far more inconvenient: British colonisation ended the deadliest period in Māori history, protected Māori from other imperial powers, and introduced the first stable national authority New Zealand had ever known.

David R. Henderson: Giving Thanks for Freedom and Growth

Economic liberty is the foundation of our better lives.

"Why did men die of hunger, for six thousand years? Why did they walk, and carry goods and other men on their backs, for six thousand years, and suddenly, in one century, only on a sixth of this earth’s surface, they make steamships, railroads, motors, and are now flying around the earth in its utmost heights of air? Why did families live thousands of years in floorless hovels, without windows or chimneys, then, in eighty years and only in these United States, they are taking floors, chimneys, glass windows for granted, and regarding electric lights, porcelain toilets, and window screens as minimum necessities?"—Rose Wilder Lane, The Discovery of Freedom: Man’s Struggle against Authority, 1943

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Energy as a common good

UK

Lord Glasman’s GWPF annual lecture: energy as a common good

The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has released its 2025 Annual Lecture, delivered this year by Lord Glasman, founder of the Blue Labour movement. Glasman set out a wide-ranging argument for treating energy as a fundamental common good that is required for national security, industrial strategy and AI.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 7.12.25

Sunday December 7, 2025 

News:
UN on racial discrimination in New Zealand
The UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva has published its findings.

The committee expressed grave concern over the 2019 terrorist attack in Christchurch and was 'especially concerned about the persistence of racist hate-speech by some politicians and public figures.' Also highlighted was 'its concern over continuing reports of racially motivated attacks' on Māori, Pasifika and other ethnic and religious groups.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 6 December 2025

Two stories the NZ media decided not to touch this week

The first came from an NZ Herald article originally (credit where its due) but then the real story that should have been investigated from it has been ignored entirely. That is that, as far as I can see, the Labour Party has breached Advertising Standards Authority regulations, the Electoral Act, and social media platform rules. They are paying influencer Jordan Rivers a salary to work in Chris Hipkins’ office and he is posting hundreds upon hundreds of undeclared aggressively political and often attack-ad-style posts and videos on social media. He has 200,000 followers on TikTok alone. It is Dirty Politics 2.0 and I wrote about it earlier this week.

Roger Partridge: The Open Mind and the Closed University

Last month, Dame Anne Salmond issued a public challenge to the very idea of reason – the commitment to shared standards of inquiry that has delivered unprecedented human flourishing over the past three centuries.

Salmond is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated public intellectuals. She was writing in Newsroom on 18 November – the same day legislation requiring universities to protect open debate and remain “institutionally neutral” received royal assent. Salmond opposes the reform. For her, neutrality is a fiction: there is no common ground – only competing worldviews.

Elliot Ikilei: When 87% say 'no' and the media calls them the problem

Every now and then, the media produces something so out-of-touch that I have to stop, take a breath, and ask: Do they actually hear themselves? Yesterday was one of those days.

The NZ Herald released polling showing that only 13% of NZ Europeans want to be called “Pākehā.” An overwhelming example of consensus. And how does the Herald frame this story up? That the 87% (the vast, ordinary majority) are scared, racist, or uncomfortable with their identity. Not “Maybe we should respect people’s preferences.” Nope. They choose to view the majority in the worst light. Apparently, the only acceptable answer was the one most people didn’t give.

Mike's Minute: The NZ retail experience, a first hand view

The New Zealand retail experience, as summed up by a frustrated Katherine Hawkesby as of yesterday.

She visited half a dozen shops - one was decent and the rest were useless.

They were useless for a variety of reasons, but the common theme was service, or lack of it.

Peter Dunne: Andrew Coster resignation

In the wake of the Jevon McSkimming scandal, the resignation of former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency was not unexpected. Both the criticisms of Coster's judgement on the McSkimming case when Police Commissioner that were highlighted in the Independent Police Complaints Authority report and the sensitivity of his new role at the Social Investment Agency made his continued employment in a senior public service role untenable.

Bob Edlin: Socialist Equality Group can’t see a split in the Maori Party....

Socialist Equality Group can’t see a split in the Maori Party – at least, not a class split, nor a call for workers to unite against the wealthy elite

In The Post, you can read how Davey Salmon, KC, explained the political process that resulted in the Māori Party dumping two of its MPs – “to make a big omelette you have to crack a lot of eggs”.

Salmon was in the High Court yesterday acting for party president John Tamihere and the party’s “National Council”.

JC: Should We Trust Labour

Definitely not. There have been a few clangers recently. Some are hypocritical, some are laced with irony, some have both and some are straight out misleading.

Labour’s spokesperson on local government, Tangi Utikere, said Labour will not be supporting the Government’s legislation on a rates cap. At the same time he said the current increases are “unaffordable in the long term”. The logical conclusion to draw from that is the party should be supporting the legislation, especially as no alternative was offered.

Saturday December 6, 2025 

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Steven Gaskell: Another “Final” Settlement - Until the Next One

When it comes to Treaty settlements, the script never changes: solemn speeches, sweeping apologies, and of course the part everyone quietly flips to first the price tag. This time it’s north of $50 million, wrapped in the familiar language of “healing,” “rebuilding,” and “a new relationship grounded in tikanga.” Translation: taxpayers are once again invited to the ceremony as the ATM, dutifully dispensing another round of reconciliation cash.

Wendy Geus: Mike Waltz 'cleans house' at UN – hopefully nixes Ardern's Secretary General aspirations

Mike Waltz, recently appointed US Ambassador to the United Nations has been doing a bit of housework at the UN lately and as of now has swept up $1 billion dollars of savings, and 'we're only getting started', he says. (see link below)

Ryan Bridge: That's a wrap for the year

This is my last day on Early Edition for 2025.

I’ll be on Drive for a few weeks from Monday and while I won’t lie, I’m looking forward to few sleep-ins before Christmas, I will miss our wee 5am club.

It’s a huge privilege to be here with you every morning as you wake up, head off to work, off to school sport or home from a night shift yourself.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 30.11.25

Saturday December 6, 2025 

News:
High Court reinstates Kapa-Kingi to Te Pāti Māori ahead of AGM
The High Court has ordered Te Pāti Māori to reinstate expelled Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi as a party member, finding there are serious questions about the legality and fairness of the process used to remove her.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: The tax problem New Zealand cannot seem to solve

Every year, Inland Revenue writes off hundreds of millions in tax debt – $694.5 million last year alone. The money vanishes through the same predictable loopholes, exploited by the same cast of characters: directors who accumulate GST and PAYE debts, then walk away scot-free by abandoning their companies.

This is not a new problem. It is a perennial feature of New Zealand’s tax collection system, one that successive governments have tried and failed to fix.

Dr Eric Crampton: Regional councils shake-up an opportunity for reinvention

When plans to abolish regional councils were first rumoured, I was more than mildly sceptical.

It isn’t that I’m a giant fan of regional councils; I couldn’t name more than a couple of my own regional councillors, and I bet most of you can’t either. It’s rather that if regional councils didn’t exist, local councils would have to at least partially re-create them.

Matua Kahurangi: Pharmacists cashed in - The COVID gold rush they don’t want you talking about

When the Government rolled out its COVID vaccination programme, most Kiwis assumed pharmacies were simply doing their bit for public health. What we were not told was that behind the scenes the jab programme turned into a lucrative cash cow for a select group of pharmacy owners who saw the pandemic not as a crisis, but as an opportunity to fill their coffers.

Kerre Woodham: Should convictions for violence be public record?

Now, surely, it should be a straightforward exercise. You're about to embark on a relationship with someone, and you want to do a police check. Does this person have previous convictions for violence? Seems charming, seems a lovely, but you hear horror stories. So, why wouldn't you want to check on somebody before you invite them into your life? Why can't you know? Surely, once you have a conviction for an offence, it becomes a matter of public record.

David Farrar: Labour’s policy will cause huge delays in being able to see a GP

Labour’s policy to have taxpayers fund three GP visits a year to every NZer aged 15+ will be costly and will also make it much harder for people to see a GP.

The policy is not targeted towards low and middle income NZers. It will apply to everyone regardless of income or wealth. So every Labour MP will get taxpayer funded GP visits despite earning around $200,000 a year or more.

Mike's Minute: We watch Australia's social media ban with interest

The Australian social media ban has started.

Well, sort of. It came in on Monday but begins officially on the 10th of December.

The worrying thing is one of the big proponents of the idea said she believed with all her heart that "we were saving a generation".

That is not true. Saving them from what? Themselves?

Friday December 5, 2025 

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Geoff Parker: The symbolic coup of New Zealand

New Zealand is witnessing a striking revival of Māori iconography (symbolism) - tattooed faces or chin, bone/greenstone pendants used as identity markers, the flag of the Māori sovereignty movement flying at public events and governmental buildings, carved posts (pou) appearing in places where no such markers ever stood before and Māori carved gateway entrances (waharoa) installed at school entrances. Supporters call this a cultural renaissance. But there is a deeper political message woven through these symbols, one that goes beyond cultural pride: a deliberate statement of rejection of European civilisation and the legitimacy of the country’s colonial foundations.

Caleb Anderson: Top prize at this year's prize giving goes to ...

The present government inherited an education system in freefall. Its achievements in the education domain after two years of government significantly outstrip achievements by any government in over forty years.

Without delay the government initiated programmes and policies ...

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Is taking long summer breaks a cause for concern?

Here's a question for you... is our summer holiday too long?

Are we going to the beach and staying away from the office for too long?

There's a chap called Toss Grumley who thinks so, he's written a column about it. He's a young mover and shaker, business advisor, director, investor in multiple New Zealand entities.

Ryan Bridge: Is Coster really sorry?

Andrew Coster's three weeks of silence and negotiating speaks volumes about the sincerity of the apology delivered yesterday.

If you really felt that way, if you hadn't until yesterday realised what had gone on, which he had of course, he saw the report long before any of us did, then surely, you'd have come straight out starting blocks with an apology to Ms Z.

John McLean: Partisan Penfold

Paula has stopped pretending...to be a proper journalist

Paula Penfold was once a pretty credible journalist. Her journalistic investigation of Teina Pora’s wrongful conviction for rape and murder was admirable and contributed to the quashing of his conviction and a multimillion dollar settlement for Pora.

Chris Trotter: Hard Choices.

If she is serious about balancing the books, and restoring Pay Equity, Labour’s finance spokesperson, Barbara Edmonds, cannot avoid imposing austerity on her party’s own voters.

LABOUR COULD WIN IN 2026, but the fiscal and monetary conservatism of its finance spokesperson makes victory increasingly unlikely. Barbara Edmonds promise to “balance the books” hasn’t just handed over Labour’s hopes of electoral victory to Fortune as hostages, it’s sold them into slavery.

Simon O'Connor: Now for the excuses

There will be many excuses from Zohran Mamdani once his policies fail, yet until we appreciate the reasons why he won, these excuses will succeed.

As anticipated, Zohran Mamdani has won the New York mayoralty. He will be the 111th mayor, and while I am not remotely interested in numerology, this figure could well be seen - tongue in cheek - as an early sign of the emergency ahead.

Matua Kahurangi: Serious allegations against Willie Jackson and MUMA raise alarming questions

Explosive allegations have emerged from veteran political figure Matthew McCarten, raising deeply troubling questions about Labour MP Willie Jackson and the Manukau Urban Maori Authority (MUMA). If McCarten’s account is accurate, Jackson has used his political influence to interfere in an employment dispute involving his own wife, Tania Rangiheuea, the CEO of MUMA. The allegations go far beyond poor judgement. They cut right to the heart of political integrity and proper governance.

Kerre Woodham: What would it take to get police trust to 80%?

It's been 12 months since Richard Chambers became New Zealand's Police Commissioner. And by crikey, he's had a busy old time of it, a little bit of a poisoned chalice. There's been the clean out of the police hierarchy following the McSkimming scandal – or really, scandals. And two months after his appointment, police officer Lynn Fleming was killed in the line of duty in Nelson on New Year's Day.

Bob Edlin: Lenient judge in theft case says $360 is a “relatively small amount” .......

Lenient judge in theft case says $360 is a “relatively small amount” – but what can shoplifters expect under tougher legislation?

ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar emailed PoO today to whoop about “today’s introduction of a new law expanding citizens’ arrest powers and introducing infringement fees for shoplifters…” It shows her party’s continued commitment to standing up for retailers, she said.

Click on to her link and you will find it’s not yet a new law. It’s a bill.

JC: Labour and Left Media Have High Hopes

Last weekend the Labour Party held their annual conference: their tax talkfest where they chew the fat and think about how many new taxes they can get away with imposing on us, the poor sods who are obliged to pay up. They believe the way to grow the economy is to tax the hell out of everyone, particularly the ‘rich pricks’ that rank as enemy number one. The irony is it is an illusion: the negative effects on the economy outweigh the positives.

Mike's Minute: Still more questions to answer for the Reserve Bank

The mail I'm getting got a bit more official yesterday with Fitch suggesting they think the Reserve Bank isn't done.

A lot of people thought the Reserve Bank was done cutting because fill-in Governor Christian Hawkesby basically said as much last week.

Thursday December 4, 2025 

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Ian Bradford: Some Arguments Against Climate Alarmists

Skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin - Thomas Huxley, 19 C Biologist

Sea Level Rise

Alarmists continue to push sea level rise, plus the rise is accelerating as yet more propaganda. Let’s go back in time.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Coster did nothing wrong, but still had to go

In the end, I think Andrew Coster had to go.

Look, you realize he's won a big victory today, don't you? Cause it's a big admission from the Public Service commissioner today that Andrew Coster didn't do anything wrong himself.

He hadn't committed any personal wrongdoing and it's a big admission also that there was no cover-up.

Ryan Bridge: How was a former Covid response lead able to steal $1.8 million?

This story should shock everybody, but it won't. Sadly.

The headline? Former Covid response lead Alister Thorby stole $1.8 million from DHBs.

From us, taxpayers.

Chris Lynch: Food Safety pushes back again after principal disputed cause of mouldy lunches

New Zealand Food Safety has issued a new statement on the mouldy lunches at Haeata Community Campus, reiterating that the evidence points to a human error at the school as the most likely cause.

New Zealand Food Safety is a unit of the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The follow up statement has been released after the school’s principal continued to publicly suggest the problem lay with the provider, appearing on multiple media outlets this morning.

David Farrar: Labour winning all the Māori seats would be good for NZ

Radio NZ reports:

“I think Te Pāti Māori has got themselves into a world of difficulty. They’re not in any fit shape to play a constructive role in the current Parliament, much less a future government,” he told RNZ head of Labour’s annual meeting in Auckland on Friday night.

Ani O'Brien: The lunatics are taking the government to court

PATHA to take the government to court over puberty blockers

A handful of activists, with a tenuous grip on reality and a plethora of mental health issues between them, are dragging the government into the courts over the puberty blocker ban.

On 1 December 2025, the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) filed an urgent injunction seeking to block the upcoming ban on new prescriptions of puberty-blockers for “gender-dysphoric youth” set to take effect on 19 December.

Cam Slater: Willie Jackson Accused of Bullying, Union-Busting and Cronyism....

Exclusive: Willie Jackson Accused of Bullying, Union-Busting and Cronyism to Protect His Missus

Matt McCarten, once one of Labour’s closest allies, has laid a formal complaint with Speaker Gerry Brownlee alleging that Willie Jackson MP used his political muscle to:

Professor Jerry Coyne: Three Royal Societies abandon their mission to promote global and universalist science

A Kiwi who wishes to remain anonymous (of course) sent me this link to an announcement of a meeting of three Royal (Scientific) Societies: those of New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. The screenshot below also links to two other short documents, a communiqué and a statement by the Presidents of all three Societies.

The object is severalfold: to eliminate “structural racism” and inequities in science, to tout “indigenous knowledge systems” as not only different and distinct from normal science, but as having contributed valuable knowledge to science in unique indigenous ways, and to assert that indigenous people have a right to “maintain, protect, and develop indigenous knowledge systems, intellectual property, and data.”

Click below (or above) to access the three statements.

Kerre Woodham: A rates cap or an erosion of services and facilities?

Auckland households face a 7.9% rate rise next year, primarily to fund the operating costs for the $5.5 billion City Rail Link, which is nearly finished. It's a reality, it's going to open for passengers next year – woo! The increase will cover the $235 million annual cost of operating the new underground rail service. It's the largest rates rise since Auckland Council as a super city was formed in 2010. For the average household wondering what on earth to do with all the extra money that comes into their bank accounts, annual rates will climb from $4,023 to $4,341.

David Farrar: The wagons are circling

1 News reports:

Speaking in Māori, former party president Dame Naida Glavish said Te Pāti Māori was not established to belittle people, but rather for the betterment of all Māori.

She said that had not been evident this year.

Mike's Minute: I'm confident for 2026

It probably came out on the wrong day to get the coverage it deserved, but one of the last pieces in the economic turnaround told us we are basically there.

Consumer confidence is back, up six points to 98. It needs to be 100 or more for expansion, but it’s the highest figure since June and backs the business confidence, which last week was up a lot.

Wednesday December 3, 2025 

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David Farrar: Another school lunch beauty

Readers will no doubt have seen the numerous stories about mouldy lunches served at Haeata Community Campus. There were multiple stories on all media platforms reporting that these mouldy meals were the result of Compass, the meal provider.

Radio NZ, and other media, failed to ask any questions at all, as it fit the narrative that the revised school lunch programme was bad that the left love. They didn’t ask:

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government should not fund Ozempic

The big health news today is that the WHO is essentially calling for the funding of weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic for people who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

So basically, make it not just for the rich, but for the poor as well.

Ryan Bridge: Rate caps are happening, but will they work?

This rates cap is popular politics, no doubt, and local government needs a good kick in the pants.

But does a 2-4% band simply mean we're going to pay more in other fees?

Rates aren't the only way these guys make money off us, we also pay for specific things like resource and building consents, LIM requests, dog registrations, and campgrounds.

Dr William Happer Previews His Trip To NZ To Talk Climate Change Truth

Sean Plunket chats to Dr William Happer on The Platform about the climate change hoax.

Click to view

Ani O'Brien: Dirty Politics 2.0 - Labour’s covert influencer says what Chris Hipkins can’t

Jordan Rivers has failed to disclose his employment in the Labour leader's office

When Nicky Hager published Dirty Politics a decade ago, he exposed a political ecosystem in which government insiders supposedly used independent bloggers to wage smear campaigns, break stories, and launder political attacks through channels that looked organic. Hager argued that politicians fed attack lines to bloggers like Cameron Slater. Slater published the hit jobs and ministers kept their hands clean.

Chris Morrison: New Scientific Findings Expose the Hoax Behind Meat Eating Climate Alarm

Sensational new scientific findings have blown holes in the climate hoax opinion that humans need to give up eating meat to save the planet. The effect of methane (CH4), a minor ‘greenhouse’ gas, have been grossly exaggerated to suggest that animal farming poses a significant threat to the global climate. But the invented threat relies on multiplying by around ten the length of time that CH4 stays in the atmosphere – an invention under Global Warming Potential 100 know as GWP100 that is in widespread use in activist circles, including the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. At current emission levels, five Italian scientists predict 54% less warming than under GWP100, while small decreasing emissions, possible with some changes in animal diets, produce only tiny amounts of claimed warming.

Chris Lynch: Government moves to cap rates and curb cost pressures on ratepayers

The Government has announced plans to introduce a national rates cap, saying the move has been designed to help councils control rates increases and reduce pressure on household budgets.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts said rising rates were becoming unsustainable for many residents, with some communities facing repeated double digit increases.