Barrie Davis: Maori Myths - Colonial Realities

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

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

David Round: Thoughts for our Time - Article 13

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

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Asset recycling needs governance, not ideology

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this week opened the door to asset recycling. He suggested that the government could sell state-owned enterprises and commercial assets it no longer has any reason to own, to fund new infrastructure. He mentioned Kiwibank as one possibility, arguing that government ownership of a bank might not be the best use of public capital.

Dr Benno Blaschke: Grocery reform or procedural tweak

The Government deserves credit for wanting to make it easier for new supermarkets and other large projects to get off the ground. The Government’s broad approach is sound. There are currently too many unreasonable barriers, and more competition benefits consumers.

Last week’s amendment to the Fast-track Approvals Act, now before Parliament, intends to enable greater competition. It will also allow ministers to issue policy statements to guide decision-makers. One of these will focus on grocery competition.

Dr Michael Johnston: How to solve New Zealand’s population problem

The population of South Korea is about 51 million. In a hundred years, it will likely be about 11 million – a reduction of about 80%. Maintaining a steady population without immigration requires a fertility rate of about 2.1 – an average of slightly more than two children per woman. South Korea’s current fertility rate is about 0.75.

By the end of this century, China is likely to have a population of roughly half its present 1.4 billion. In part, this is a legacy of its one-child policy, implemented in 1979. Despite the cessation of the policy in 2015, though, China’s fertility rate continues to languish at about 1.1.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: EU mistaking paperwork for power, acronyms for armies

Last month, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented her plans for 2026 to the European Parliament. She promised the continent would become the “master of its own destiny”, build its own armies, control key technologies and lead the green transformation without depending on America or China.

Kerre Woodham: Charging Ms Z would be a gross miscarriage of justice

How is it that the woman, who's at the centre of a cover-up by top brass within the Police, still has to go to court to defend two charges of causing harm by posting a digital communication? She's charged with harassing a police officer who was apparently investigating her accusations against that pervert McSkimming and with harassing the investigating police officer's wife.

Bob Edlin: How Trump put a rocket up US air traffic controllers to badger them back to work

PoO spotted this headline earlier in the week, before the US Senate did whatever was needed legislatively to have the government re-opened.

Sunday November 16, 2025 

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

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

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Are blackouts inevitable?

UK

Are blackouts inevitable?

Energy expert Kathryn Porter warned that the UK faces a very real risk of blackouts. There appears to be little interest in the subject in Westminster.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 16.11.25

Sunday November 16, 2025 

News:
Iwi Chairs steps in to unite against changes To Education and Training Act
The National Iwi Chairs Forum (NICF), supported by a coalition of national education organisations, has launched a petition against the Government’s removal of the requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi by repealing section 127(2)(e) of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time - 15 November 2025

A week is a long time in politics. Welcome to my weekly wrap up of the week that was in New Zealand politics with a sprinkling of international news.

The McSkimming Scandal: a system rotting from the top

The bombshell IPCA report into former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming has unearthed a culture problem in the NZ Police that goes far beyond just one creepy bad apple. One of the country’s most senior officers was shielded for years while a young woman was prosecuted under the Harmful Digital Communications Act for daring to report allegations against him.

Kerre Woodham: The problem with our retirement system

As you'll have heard in the news this morning, the Retirement Commissioner has called for a 10-year roadmap and cross-party agreement, following the release of its review of New Zealand's retirement system.

More Kiwis are living longer, working differently, and facing pressures around housing and care. We're facing a huge rise in the number of older people. At the same time, we're facing fewer working Kiwis who can pay for the associated costs of aged care. Current data shows that right now, for every 100 people of working age, we have 28 retirees. Those numbers are changing quickly. By 2050, just 25 years away, we're looking at 38 retirees per 100 workers. By 2060, we'll have twice as many retirees compared to workers.

Bob Edlin: The flight of 72,000 Kiwis.....

The flight of 72,000 Kiwis – they must be blind, because they can’t see that NZ is “the best place to be”

The Government’s gurgling about fiscal discipline and growth is countered by an increasing public debt, the rising cost of living and significant job losses.

An aging population is putting increasing pressure on New Zealand Superannuation and healthcare costs, which threatens to result in higher taxes or increased debt in the future.

Mike's Minute: Labour talks tough, but it rings hollow

It’s a slightly odd message from Labour over the Māori Party as they try and work out how to deal with them.

The truth is they will need them to form a government if they get their own numbers to a point of victory.

Ani O'Brien: Rot Part 2 - Corrupt top cops destroy trust in NZ Police

This is Part Two. I don’t know how many parts it will take, but it continues here. We left off Part One with Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura deciding that an investigation into the allegations about Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming was appropriate after all…

Still no one had talked to Ms Z about the allegations or attempted to get a full report from her. Strangely, the initial terms of reference for Kura’s investigation do refer to the consideration as to “whether there is a need to speak with Ms Z’s parents.” By 2024, Ms Z was in her late 20s. Perhaps this is an admission that she was a particularly vulnerable person, but that would make arresting and charging her more outrageous.

Matua Kahurangi: Free speech under fire

Former judge David Harvey forecasts fresh online regulation push

Broadcaster Alastair Harding was joined by former Judge David Harvey (
A Halfling’s View ), broadcasting legend Peter Allan Williams and RCR’s co-founder Claire Deeks to unpack the Broadcasting Standards Authority’s (BSA) latest push to extend its powers into the world of online radio. What unfolded was a stark warning about where free speech and online regulation in New Zealand could be heading.

JC: Richard Chambers Is a ‘Top Cop’

I can justify my headline by revealing that I have known Richard Chambers and his family for nigh on 50 years. When Richard joined the New Zealand Police I was in no doubt he had a promising career ahead of him. The fact that he is now the ‘Top Cop’ is of no surprise to me. This man is as ‘honest as the day is long’. He has had a long and distinguished career in the police and he obviously caught the eye of the current Police Minister Mark Mitchell.

Scott Kennedy: Refocusing Education On Education

In early November, the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) released a media statement criticising the Government’s plan to remove Treaty of Waitangi responsibilities from school boards. The Federation described the move as “extreme” and “far right,” urging boards to continue giving effect to the Treaty in their governance.

It’s hard to overstate how disconnected this concern is from the real challenges facing education in New Zealand. It raises serious questions about whether the Federation is primarily interested in education itself or in promoting a programme of left-wing social engineering.

 Saturday November 15, 2025 

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Steven Gaskell: Back to Basics: When Education Finally Means Education Again

For the first time in a long time, it feels like the Government has finally stood up, cleared its throat, and reminded everyone that the purpose of a school is to teach children not drag them through constitutional re-education camps or daily ideological rituals masquerading as “civics.” The long-running experiment of forcing every school board in New Zealand to “give effect to the Treaty” a phrase so elastic it might as well have been drafted on a bungee cord has finally reached the end of its political shelf life. And thank goodness. Expecting part time volunteers juggling budgets, property maintenance, staffing pressures, and attendance crises to also act as legal historians and cultural negotiators was absurd from the start. A school board is not the Waitangi Tribunal, and classrooms are not political marae.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Who is Labour's climate spokesperson?

OK, quick quiz for you.

Think of the Labour Party.

Who is the climate spokesperson?

Yeah, no, you didn't get it right because it's Deborah Russell.

Ryan Bridge: Another dodgy story from Corrections

This prison escape story is fishy as hell.

And in the week of cover ups and ass-covering, this walks, talks, and quacks like another one.

On Friday last week at 9am, an inmate escapes Mt Eden prison.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 9.11.25

Saturday November 15, 2025 

News:
Kaipara council’s swearing in ceremony opens with karakia
Karakia featured at the start and finish of Kaipara District Council’s (KDC) first official 2025 meeting as nine incoming politicians were sworn in.

Two hundred people packed the Matakohe War Memorial Hall on Wednesday where new Mayor Jonathan Larsen said the district faced a bright future.

Mike's Minute: It's been an excellent economic week

Once again we find ourselves in the midst of an excellent economic week.

It's excellent, if you wish to see it that way.

100% of hotels will be full this coming Wednesday in Auckland. Broadly speaking, you can't get a room.

Auckland hasn’t been full in years.

Ani O'Brien: Rot - corrupt top cops destroy trust in NZ Police

Part One: How the highest level of New Zealand Police protected their own and prosecuted the victim

This horrifying saga is too long to fit into one Substack. This is Part One. I don’t know how many parts it will take, but it starts here.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority’s bombshell report into the Jevon McSkimming saga has torn the mask off a police culture that protects its own, punishes the vulnerable, and quietly strangles accountability.

Bruce Cotterill: Why some Kiwis seem to have lost their work ethic

In a week where our unemployment rate hit a post-Covid peak of 5.3%, I’m starting to wonder if Kiwis want to work any more.

In a recessionary, low-growth environment, we’re seeing well-paid government servants, people earning more than $100,000 per year, protesting and striking for higher pay and better conditions.

Simon O'Connor: Policing the police

Recent revelations around how some senior police officers acted is shining a spotlight on much needed reform and changes, including the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

My father was a police officer, and my uncle. A number of my friends are police officers, or once served. I have huge admiration for the work they did and for the police as a whole.

But without doubt, the latest revelations of how some senior police officers ran interference to protect a now disgraced ex-colleague, is appalling. This impacts many people, but it will be a huge kick in the guts to serving officers and their families.

Matua Kahurangi: Another refugee comes to New Zealand, breaks our laws, and we pay the price

Abdul Ahmadi came to New Zealand as a refugee. He was given safety, opportunity, and a fresh start. Instead of building an honest life, this Afgan scumbag built an $800,000 stolen-car operation that ripped off hard-working New Zealanders and drove up insurance costs for everyone else.

This was not a moment of weakness or desperation. It was calculated, premeditated crime. For nine months, Ahmadi ran a network of chop shops through Christchurch and Wellington, trading in other people’s property for profit until police finally caught up with him.

DTNZ: Record NZ citizen departures drive sharp drop in net migration

New Zealand’s net migration gain has plunged to 12,400 in the year to September 2025 — its lowest September total since 2013 outside the pandemic years — as record numbers of New Zealanders leave the country, according to provisional figures from Stats NZ.

David Farrar: Hipkins still won’t rule out TPM

The Post reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says Te Pāti Māori still isn’t ready for Government, as the party booted two of its MPs from its caucus this week.

This is a meaningless statement. He is not ruling out a coalition with them. He’s just hoping people interpret it that way.

Peter Dunne: ACC coverage for emergency service volunteers

Yes Minister’s Sir Humphrey Appleby once advised his Minister that “nothing must be done for the first time” because “doing the ‘right thing’ once could create a dangerous precedent, obligating one to do it again.” Therefore, he argued it was best to do nothing at all, thereby avoiding setting any precedent.

Friday November 14, 2025 

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Clive Bibby: Pragmatism vs Ideology

Like the village vicar looking for a text suitable for Sunday’s sermon, I stumbled upon this gem from a report on the IQ levels of former US Presidents.

And I will use it to show how the world could be a better place if we decided to drop our obsession with ideology as the basis for decision making.

Ryan Bridge: We need economic headroom

I've seen a lot of commentary in the past few days about our government debt position.

We're up over 40% of GDP - that's doubled on pre-Covid.

There are those on the left who say that's too little. We should borrow more. Forget a debt ceiling, borrow more and throw it at the public service and create some jobs - any jobs.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The woman in the Jevon McSkimming saga wasn't innocent here

So it turns out the woman with whom Jevon McSkimming had an affair, whose warnings police ignored and who police charged instead of investigating McSkimming, is still facing charges.

This is the news today. And the police are having to defend this.

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.