Heather du Plessis-Allan: Seymour and Peters are the right men for the job

This weekend marks the last day of Winnie and the first day of David Seymour as the Deputy Prime Minister.

Now, mostly I don't actually care.

I mean, I largely agree with Jim Bolger's assessment and, and obviously, happy 90th birthday to Jim for tomorrow.

Insights From Social Media

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Let’s Rebuild New Zealand with Flax and Wairua What Could Go Wrong?

Just when you thought navigating New Zealand’s building code couldn’t get any more complicated, here comes a call to “weave tikanga and wairua” into your next resource consent application. Because, obviously, what our housing sector really needs isn’t fewer regulations it’s spiritual guidelines and indigenous architecture footnotes from 1823.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Increasing debt default risk won’t Make America Great Again

On 12 May, President Donald Trump's government spending and revenue bill was published. With characteristic panache, the President calls it his “Big Beautiful Bill”.

On 16 May, Moody's, a US credit rating agency, did something it had not done for over 100 years. It dropped its credit rating for US federal government debt from AAA to AA1. Meanwhile, eleven prosperous countries retain their AAA status – for now. They include Australia and New Zealand.

Matua Kahurangi: ACT is defending equal rights for all New Zealanders

This morning, the ACT Party shared a bold message on X, outlining nine key actions they have taken in government to uphold a principle many politicians talk about but few are willing to put into practice: equal rights for all New Zealanders. The post reads, “Fairness is making a comeback. ACT is turning the tide on race-based rules.” and is backed by a clear list of policy achievements.

Kerre Woodham: Will fining parents of absent kids help?

You might have heard ACT leader David Seymour on the Breakfast show this morning. He says there will almost certainly be prosecutions against parents of absent students this year as the Government intensifies its crackdown on school truancy. And it's not even truancy, in my mind truancy are kids doing a bunk, wagging, taking a day off. What this is, is parental neglect.

Bob Edlin: UK diplomat appointment

Diplomat is appointed to UK post that first was filled by a politician whose pen triggered a challenge to a duel

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced a diplomat, rather than a politician, has been appointed to succeed Phil Goff as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. The job has gone to Hamish Cooper, described by Peters as “one of New Zealand’s most senior and experienced diplomats and is eminently well-qualified to take on this significant role.”

JC: Winston Tells It Like It Is

The deputy prime minister recently posted on X that:

Our House of Representatives is a House of Chaos. For a long time we have warned that the standards have been slipping in the House – as former Labour Minister Steve Maharey wrote about in an article in the Herald last year.

From relaxing the dress standards of our House to now having utter disorder and the worst of offensive words uttered in Question Time – no matter which side of the opinion you’re on – and with no reaction or repercussion.

Ele Ludemann: Positive change is coming

It’s taken a while but positive change is coming with consultation on proposals for farming, freshwater and infrastructure:

. . . Among the changes being proposed are new standards to allow commercial vegetable growers to grow food within a catchment without having to get resource consent, clarifying what a wetland is, enabling more papakāinga housing and clarifying consent pathways for mining and quarrying.

David Farrar: So much wrong in one article

Radio NZ reports:

More than 80,000 Kiwis must quit smoking before the end of the year to meet the goal of Smokefree 2025, which was launched 14 years ago.

But Professor of Public Health Chris Bullen tells The Detail that it is unlikely to happen – “I don’t believe so, sadly.

Mike's Minute: Has the political divide increased or decreased?

I cannot recommend a piece of reading enough in the Listener, and reproduced elsewhere, on a longitudinal study that now spans 35 years and 12 elections.

It's gripping.

A couple thousand people each election are given dozens of questions.

Friday May 30, 2025 

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Insights From Social Media

35 NZ Laws That Include Māori Spiritual or Cultural Concepts

 
John Robertson writes > Dear ACT Party,

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to defending individual rights, democracy, and a secular state.

I am writing to express concern about the increasing incorporation of Māori spiritual and cultural concepts—such as tikanga, wairua, mauri, and mana whenua—into New Zealand’s legal system. While cultural respect is important, embedding subjective spiritual beliefs into law is fundamentally incompatible with a secular, equal system that applies the same rules to all citizens, regardless of ancestry or belief.

Julia du Fresne: $100 million for Maori education / victimhood

It pays to be Maori. To discover a whakapapa, carry a tokotoko, get a greenstone pendant round your neck, a tattoo on your chin and pronouns in the plural. And Marxist ideas. It's all getting Nelson's queer deputy-mayor Rohan O'Neill-Stevens noticed. 'They' think it's perfectly fine to walk all over the New Zealand flag on the floor at Nelson's once-prestigious Suter Gallery.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 25.5.25

Friday May 30, 2025 

News:
New science fund to boost Māori economy
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka have today announced He Ara Whakahihiko – a new, consolidated fund designed to unlock the economic potential of Māori-led research and innovation.

David Farrar: Prebble on Labour and TPM

Richard Prebble writes:

Claims standards of parliamentary behaviour have fallen are nonsense. Except for Te Pāti Māori, this is a well-behaved House.

The Speaker’s referral of the floor protest to the Privileges Committee was not discretionary. It was required by Standing Orders.

Ani O'Brien: Pro-choice and confronting when life begins

I am pro-choice. That means exactly what you think it does: I support women’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy should she not want to go through with it. But it also means a whole lot more than just that.

There is a false binary that I want to challenge in this opinion piece and I suspect both sides will resist me. That is the binary of pro-life versus pro-choice.

Kerre Woodham: What do we do with children of overstayers?

What on Earth do we do with young people who were born in New Zealand, who have lived in New Zealand all of their lives, but who aren't New Zealanders? They've never known any other home, but they can't get healthcare, they can't get a driver's licence, they can't get a job, they can't pay taxes.

Chris Lynch: Christchurch City Council accused of sabotaging free hospital parking trial

Christchurch City Council staff have been accused of misleading elected members and the public by claiming a night-time parking trial outside Christchurch Hospital is not being used, despite failing to install signs indicating the free parking is available.

The six month trial, which began in April, was introduced at the request of Harewood Councillor Aaron Keown and Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger to help hospital visitors and staff struggling to find free parking in the area.

Tim Donner: Vaccine Cover-Up - The Greatest Biden Scandal of All

It is an undeniable scandal of mammoth proportions, but one that is – surprise, surprise – still being ignored by major media. It all began in February of 2021, shortly after Joe Biden took the oath of office with the pandemic still raging. Health officials in Israel sent a dire warning to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) detailing “large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people” who received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Many doctors and vaccinated individuals witnessed the same phenomenon here in the US.

Dr Benno Blaschke: Fast-Track Supermarket Entry and Expansion Omnibus Bill

The government has viewed stronger retail grocery competition as a national priority. But zoning, consenting, and overseas investment approval processes make new entry far too difficult.

The New Zealand Initiative today showed how to open New Zealand’s markets to more competition. It released drafting instructions for a Fast-track Supermarket Entry and Expansion Omnibus Bill, which would rapidly approve retail grocery developments at scale and cut through complex barriers that are preventing new supermarket chains from entering the New Zealand market.

Bruce Cotterill: Low standards in Parliament mirror societal decline

The C-word is now in Hansard.

For those of you who are unaware, Hansard is the official record of the New Zealand Parliament. It records a transcript of all debates, and is essentially a near-verbatim written record of everything said by Members of Parliament (MPs) during proceedings in the House of Representatives.

And it now records the C-Word in its commentary.

David Farrar: Imagine if it wasn’t the NZ flag?

The Herald reports:

Amid public debate over a controversial art installation that encourages people to walk on a New Zealand flag, a woman has pledged to pick the flag up from the floor each day in protest.

This comes after the Nelson installation, with the words “please walk on me” written on a New Zealand flag, sparked a feud between local leaders this week.

Thursday May 29, 2025 

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Mike's Minute: Here's my advice for Hipkins and Labour

I am here to help the ol' Chipster.

The Chipster, aka Chris Hipkins, was in the building this week. I said hello to him.

He asked me when I was dropping the blacklist I have on him appearing on this show.

Matua Kahurangi: Controversial art, cultural pride and the legacy of protest

A recent controversy surrounding an art installation at The Suter Art Gallery in Nelson has sparked national conversation and strong reactions across social media. At the centre of the debate is a flag featuring the words "please walk on me", which many saw as a provocative invitation to dishonour a national symbol. One woman, Ruth Tipu, decided to take a stand by removing the flag from the exhibition floor. Her actions were filmed and posted to her Facebook page. I reposted the video to X where the video gained over 1,300 likes in just 15 hours, along with hundreds of supportive comments and reposts.

Matua Kahurangi: ‘Support based on race is racism’

On Wednesday, ACT Party MP Dr. Parmjeet Parmar posted on X, highlighting what she described as a "divisive and unfair" practice at Victoria University of Wellington. She shared a screenshot of an email sent to students enrolled in the LAWS121: Introduction to New Zealand Legal System course, announcing a practice exam session restricted to Māori and Pasifika (MPI) students.

Bob Edlin: RMA breach - The curious case of the council which slapped itself with an abatement notice over river work

Southland farmers are familiar with the environmental regulations heaped on them under the Resource Management Act and the penalties imposed for breaching the rules.

A headline in Farmers’ Weekly last November told a typical story:

Farmer cops huge fine for ignoring abatement notices

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: There's a gloomy note in the Reserve Bank decision

I don't really want to have to start on a bum note, but if there is a thing that we do on the show, it's honesty. So let's be honest about it.

What the Reserve Bank decision told you today is how much trouble our economy is in. If you're in business, you already know this and you don't need me to tell you this.

Brendan O'Neill: Israel’s latest crime? Feeding the people of Gaza

The hysterical response to Israel’s aid initiative in Gaza has exposed the lunacy of Israelophobia.

Israel is behaving criminally again. It has once more turned its nose up at ‘humanitarian principles’. It is trampling even harder than usual all over international law. What inhuman act has the pariah state committed now? Brace yourselves: it is seeking to feed the people of Gaza.

David Farrar: It’s a tax delay, not a tax break

Newsroom reports:

It’s audacious. It’s astounding. We’re doing the time warp again.

Even ministers struggled to comprehend the scale of the tax incentive scheme they’d signed off in the Budget. Shane Jones left his own noisy beer-and-crayfish Budget night party, upstairs in Parliament Buildings, to return to the House to check with other ministers whether there really was no cap on the size of an asset that could receive the 20 percent tax deduction.

Dr Michael Bassett: Te Partly Maori vs Commensense

These days, when reading statements from Te Partly Maori it’s often hard to trust one’s eyesight. A few days ago, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi Clarke who faces suspension from the House for participating in the haka against David Seymour in opposition to his Treaty Principles Bill, was reported to be proposing legislation that would require MPs to learn about the Treaty and uphold its principles. What’s that again? Uphold its principles? She had a chance earlier in the year, but she ripped up her fellow Maori Seymour’s Bill rather than contribute to the debate, or make submissions on it. But TPM dances to its own music, and only its own, it seems. Why won’t she tell us what she has been reading that led her to disagree with Seymour? And, why won’t she and her colleagues engage in activities that really could improve Maori lives?

Dr Oliver Harwich: Trump’s retreat in Europe shocking but not surprising

Was it really an “excellent” phone call with Russia’s dictator, Vladimir Putin? Did it signify, as President Donald Trump declared last week, an imminent breakthrough for peace in Ukraine?

The President’s public pronouncements certainly suggested so. Yet behind closed doors, a starkly different mood prevailed.

Simon O'Connor: Dead or alive? MOH has no idea

It's nearly impossible to say New Zealand's euthanasia regime is safe when the Ministry of Health can't even add up the numbers correctly (again).

A friend got in touch last night with some significant news that the Ministry of Health (MOH) had once again botched it’s euthanasia numbers.

JC: Shane Jones Hammers in the Nails

Following the presentation of the budget I put myself through the agony of listening to the speeches from the party leaders in reply. The best, unsurprisingly, was delivered by Matua Shane Jones. This man never fails to impress. He is parliament’s top orator and always manages to include some humour while lambasting all and sundry. He wore a light blue jacket to illustrate where he belonged and a red tie to show the Labour Party what might have been. I will get to him but first a cursory glance at the other speeches.

David Farrar: Winston rules out Hipkins

The Herald reports:

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters wants to make it very clear: he won’t be working with Labour after the election if the party is still led by Chris Hipkins. …

“When I ruled out Hipkins in 2023, I ruled him out permanently,” Peters said (he actually ruled out Labour in November 2022, three months before Hipkins became leader).

 Wednesday May 28, 2025 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Winston's rejection of Chippy is more significant than we realise

I think Winston Peters ruling out ever going into coalition with Chippy after the next election is actually more significant than many people will realize.

Because Winnie was actually Chippy's only credible path back to being prime minister again. Without Winnie, Chippy is completely stuffed, because the alternatives are not real options.

Peter Hemmingson: Sanctioning Te Pati Māori

The ongoing disrespect for our Parliament shown by Te Pati Māori puts the finger squarely on the underlying issue: whether New Zealand will be governed by democratic norms or tribal grievance politics enforced through cultural intimidation.

We’re watching tikanga being expressed not as custom or courtesy, but as confrontation, posturing, aggression, bullying, and thinly veiled threats of violence.

Barrie Davis: Helmut Modlik’s Democracy

In a 27 May article in The Post, “Representative democracy is failing us - we can lead the search for a new way” (here), Helmut Modlik, the CEO of the Ngati Toa iwi authority, claims that “our representative democracy is a bust”.

Mr Modlik points to problems with our health system, education system, housing, food prices, pollution, failing infrastructure, and “deepening poverty, trauma, addiction, mental health issues and a host of crises — without adequate support. The list goes on and on.”

Clive Bibby: Good teachers are born, not made

Arguably the most honourable profession on the planet is and always has been the teaching of future generations about the basics of peaceful co-existence with their neighbours.

And it is the limited success of those who daily try to instil in their charge a sense of responsibility for what happens to their neighbour that keeps us all from being in a constant state of war with each other.

Insights From Social Media

Steven Mark Gaskell: Whanau owned welfare inc. misses the gravy train

Oh no, the accountability monster has arrived and it doesn’t speak fluent bureaucracy fluff. Apparently, since the dissolution of Te Aka Whai Ora (the Māori Health Authority), some providers are finding life a little less... profitable. Gone are the golden days when identity tick boxes opened the funding floodgates. Now, it’s all back to the big, bad world of open market tendering you know, that pesky thing where competence might actually matter.

Ani O'Brien: Ministry of Health leaving X for a dying platform full of furries and CSAM

The New Zealand public service is a law unto itself. As someone remarked on X today, the Coalition might be in Government, but they are not in power.

One small, but significant way our ministries, departments, and agencies are registering their defiance and hatred of people outside of their echo chamber is by shutting down (or reducing) their X accounts in favour of alternatives like BlueSky.

Centrist: ‘Colonialism didn’t murder this child’.......

Colonialism didn’t murder this child’: Te Pāti Māori slammed over silence in toddler murder case

Broadcaster Michael Laws has accused Te Pāti Māori of moral cowardice and political negligence following the alleged murder of three-year-old Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene.

DTNZ: India surpasses Japan as fourth-largest global economy

The South Asian nation’s economy has grown to $4 trillion, surpassed only by the US, China, and Germany.

India has surpassed Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, government-backed policy think tank NITI Aayog has said. The Indian economy has grown to $4 trillion, behind only the US, China, and Germany, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam stated in a press briefing on Saturday.

Matua Kahurangi: Greens cry foul over parody billboards

The Green Party, architects of the Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill, have found themselves in the unusual and frankly ironic position of complaining about being parodied.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has partly upheld eight complaints about six parody billboards lampooning Green MPs Tamatha Paul and Chlöe Swarbrick. The billboards, funded by the Sensible Sentencing Trust, featured slogans such as “Defund the Police” and the more pointed “Woop Woop! Defund da Police”, the latter a cheeky nod to Paul’s on-stage DJ performance earlier this year where she played Sound of da Police by rapper KRS-One.

Roger Partridge: Donald Trump, a Man of Many Gifts

Nothing to see here, folks. Just a $400 million Boeing 747 from a foreign monarchy — accepted by the US Department of Defense for presidential use, then slated for retirement on the tarmac in full flight readiness at the future former president’s pleasure. Perfectly normal democratic procedure.

Kerre Woodham: The shoplifting directive is not a good look

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. You cannot go into an election promising to get tough on crime, win the election and vow to draw a line in the sand, declare war on the crims, and then issue a directive that police won't turn up to minor crime. To paraphrase supermodel Linda Evangelista, who famously said she wouldn't get out of bed for less than $10,000, it appears our coppers won't get out of their Skodas for less than $500.

Bob Edlin: Some honey producers are bitter at the effects of “manuka” rules....

Some honey producers are bitter at the effects of “manuka” rules – but might some be non-Māori?

Race seemed to be a critical consideration in a OneNews report headed Māori honey producer stung by mānuka rules, fights for future.

The first paragraph said:

David Farrar: Different budget approaches

Thomas Coughlan writes:

Much of the commentary has focused on how small this Budget is – its $1.3 billion allowance of “new” operating money being the smallest in decades. While correct, that misses the fact that the package of new spending decisions, the line-upon-line of budget decisions (the tax credit change, the learning support funding, etc) actually totalled $6.7b a year – a vast sum, which might be larger than some of Labour’s last budgets.

Mike's Minute: The pressure is on Christian Hawkesby

The pressure is on the new Reserve Bank fill-in Governor today.

Although given it’s a committee, in theory he is more of a messenger.

It's reported that we have increased calls for a 50 basis point cut.

Why? Because things aren't flash.

Tuesday May 27, 2025 

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Erica Stanford: Supporting More Tamariki Māori To Flourish

An additional $60m of ring-fenced funding for Mori Medium and Kaupapa Mori Education property, which will deliver up to 50 new classrooms to support the network, providing access to immersion schooling for approximately an additional 1,100 konga.

The Government is delivering over $100 million in investment through Budget 2025 to ensure more tamariki Māori thrive at school.

Ele Ludemann: More transparency

Finance Minister Nicola WIllis has announced an amendment to the Public Finance Act to prevent future governments concealing the extent of fiscal risks in their accounts.

The change is included in legislation introduced to Parliament on Saturday evening to enhance the transparency and accountability of the public finance system.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government needs to get out of the retailers' way

I totally understand that retailers want an urgent meeting with the Police Minister.

This is over the revelation that police aren't bothering to investigate shoplifting below $500 bucks anymore.

They're clearly worried, because what's happened is there's been a revelation from a memo that was sent to police staff a couple of months ago, saying that from now on, across all districts, cops will no longer investigate theft and fraud below a certain value.