Zoran Rakovic: The Real Equity Is Found in Equations

New Zealand’s education system must shift from ideology to inspiration. It’s time to teach STEM, creativity, and AI to prepare kids for the next century.

Our children deserve rocket fuel, not red tape. As the Ministry of Education clings to 19th-century grievances, the future is slipping through our fingers. This is a call to reclaim education for what it should be: a launchpad into the stars.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The polls revealed how people felt about the pay equity saga

We've had a case of conflicting polls over the last twenty-four hours, with two completely different Governments predicted.

But if there's one thing you can take from these polls, which they both agree on, it's that the pay equity revamp hasn’t turned into the circuit breaker that the left clearly thought it was going to be.

Matua Kahurangi: The Privacy Commissioner just opened the door to mass surveillance

Facial recognition coming to a store near you!

The Privacy Commissioner has just given facial recognition technology a "cautious tick" after Foodstuffs trialled it in some of its supermarkets. In my humble opinion this is a massive failure to protect the privacy of ordinary New Zealanders.

This isn't about stopping shoplifters. It's not about keeping staff safe. It's about watching and tracking people without their permission.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 1.6.25

Thursday June 5, 2025 

News:
Matariki takes to the water for 2025 festival
Auckland’s Matariki Festival will invite visitors to paddle waka and experience kapa haka, as the city celebrates the Māori lunar new year.

The festival will run from 7 June to 13 July and decorate central Auckland with murals, sculptures and neon lights.

Lindsay Mitchell: Ardern - If she insists on being remembered, I will oblige

One thing children who get murdered never seem short of is names. The latest example is Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene, the four-year-old Kaikohe child who recently met a violent death. Late 2023 it was Taita toddler, Ruthless-Empire Souljah Reign Rhind Shephard Wall. Or in 2016, 14 week-old Richard Royal Orif Takahi Winiata Uddin. Examples abound.

Insights From Social Media

Maori Activists / Racists Create Racism Watchdog Website

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Oh spare me, just what New Zealand needed another website, this time courtesy of the Iwi Chairs Forum, to inform us all that the real problem in New Zealand isn't crime, cost of living, or failing infrastructure, but hurt feelings.

Enter “PAPARA” a name that sounds suspiciously like a noise a toddler makes, now moonlighting as a self-appointed racism watchdog. Because obviously, what the country has been crying out for is more publicly funded moral scolding, dressed up in cultural jargon and co-governance buzzwords.

Chris Lynch: International visitor spending increases as tourism rebounds

Spending by international visitors in New Zealand rose by more than nine per cent over the past year, according to new government data.

Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said the increase reflects the sector’s vital role in growing New Zealand’s economy.

Dave Patterson: Ukraine Demonstrates Capability Just in Time for Ceasefire Talks

With precise strategic execution, Kyiv may have tilted the battle in its favor.

Seldom in war does the weaker side deliver a decisively devastating blow to the stronger. However, that may be just what happened last weekend (May 31-June 1). Ukraine launched a small drone attack deep into Russia that significantly damaged or destroyed an estimated 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers. Like that of the United States, Russia’s strategic bomber force is a key element of its nuclear triad. Even more significant is that the airfields hit by Kyiv’s massive drone armada are deep inside Russia; one, Belaya in the Irkutsk region, is nearly 2,500 miles from Ukraine.

Kerre Woodham: How can we take polls seriously?

Honestly, I don't know why we report on polls. Seriously, I don't know why I'm even talking about them myself, but it's really ripped my nightie overnight. They're so frustrating, and because media companies commission them, it makes the media look like master manipulators.

Philip Crump: NZME Shareholder Meeting - RNZ Corrects the Record

After a two hour shareholder meeting, NZME has a refreshed Board which includes the newly elected Steven Joyce and Jim Grenon.

After months of uncertainty, NZME’s annual shareholder meeting took place yesterday afternoon at its Auckland offices, in the appropriately named iHeart Lounge.

The Herald’s Shayne Currie described the meeting as ‘chilled out’ due to the icy room temperature but it was an equally good description for the lively, good natured and relaxed discussion observed by an audience of approximately 50 shareholders. Notable attendees included former proprietor Michael Horton, Australian media commentator and investor Roger Colman and Hobson’s Pledge leader, Don Brash.

Chris Lynch: Opinion - The kindness façade: Ardern’s global glow hides domestic scars

When Jacinda Ardern appeared on New Zealand television to promote her memoir A Different Kind of Power, host Hilary Barry opened the segment by saying, “She’s been interviewed by some of the best in the business about it, the BBC, CBS, Oprah even, but she’s still got time for us too.” Ardern smiled and replied, “Are you kidding? This is actually the one I’m the most nervous about, because it’s home.”

JC: Is Goldsmith Out of Touch?

Paul Goldsmith’s recent comments on the taxpayer-owned entities Radio New Zealand and Television New Zealand bear little relation to global movements within the media landscape. His aspirations for these two media outlets cannot possibly be realised unless certain undertakings are made, of which no reference was made in his remarks.

Wednesday June 4, 2025 

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Mike's Minute: Some good energy news for winter, for once

Christmas came early for Tiwai Aluminium Smelter.

They get to do business. In fact, they get to do business in a country where you would have thought doing business is to be encouraged.

They have been prevented from doing all the business they can because they have a deal with their power company, Meridian, whereby they have to contain themselves if things are a bit tight in the old power department.

David Farrar: May 2025 1 News Verian poll

The 1 News Verian poll is:

Vote:

• National 34% (-2% from April)

• Labour 29% (-3%)

• Greens 12% (+2%)

• ACT 8% (-1%)

• NZ First 8% (+1%)

• TPM 3.7% (+0.3%)

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I see nothing's changed in camp Jacinda

Looks like nothing's changed in camp Jacinda, has it?

You will get no admission that she and her Government got anything wrong during Covid, from what I can gather.

Now, this is my disclaimer - I haven't actually read the entire memoir just yet. But from what I've skim read and from what I've read and heard in the reviews, and what I've read and heard with her interviews promoting the book, if you are looking for her to admit that she got anything wrong at all during Covid, you're not going to find it.

DTNZ: Trade Me and legacy media outlet Stuff announce merger in major digital media shakeup

Legacy mainstream media outlet Stuff and auction site Trade Me have agreed to a merger in which Trade Me will take a 50% stake in Stuff Digital, the division behind stuff.co.nz and ThreeNews, while Stuff’s newspapers, events, and Neighbourly are excluded from the deal.

Simon O'Connor: Call it what it is

A recent fracas involving a government Minister at a music event simply shows that an artist is allowed to provoke, but cannot be provoked.

So, a government Minister has found himself in woke hot water because he dared to give his honest opinion at the recent Aotearoa Music Awards. Chris Bishop, a former colleague of mine and who would happily describe himself on the liberal side of the National Party, was at the awards night and called a highly political musical performance “a load of crap.” Unfortunately for him, even as a liberal, he crossed an unwritten and unseen line which is that you never critique anything progressive or woke. Celebrate, yes. But never criticise.

Dr Eric Crampton: The only way to find out if more supermarket competition is real

There’s an old joke about economists walking past a $20 note on the sidewalk. One says to the other, “If that note were real, someone would have picked it up already.”

It could be that the $20 note was a photocopied counterfeit with advertising on the other side. You’ve probably seen those before.

But there are other potential explanations.

Matua Kahurangi: This Pride Month, let’s celebrate national pride instead

Scrolling through social media this morning, I came across a tweet that gave me pause. It was from James Foley (@Jimmy508989672), and it simply read: “This is my pride flag”, accompanied by an image of the New Zealand flag. In its simplicity, the message struck a deeper chord than most of the noise I have seen online lately.

Kerre Woodham: Our workplace fatality rate is appalling

On average, there are 73 work-related deaths in New Zealand every single year. Relative to the number of people in employment, the New Zealand workplace fatality rate is double that of Australia, and it hasn't shifted in many, many years. More road cones have not made a difference. The New Zealand rate is similar to the rate the UK experienced back in the 1980s. The gap between New Zealand and Australia is consistent across most industries and occupations. It's not like we've got one that is more dangerous than any other, which is why it's throwing these figures out. It's consistent across industries and occupations.

Insights From Social Media

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Welcome To The Newsroom: Leave Objectivity At The Door, Bring Your Cultural Fluency

There was a time when journalism prided itself on objectivity, scrutiny, and a healthy dose of scepticism toward those in power. But welcome to 2025, where the newsroom’s guiding principle is no longer “hold power to account,” but rather, “don’t ruffle cultural feathers unless they’re Pākehā.”

David Farrar: Ukraine strikes back

The Ukrainian military have managed to take out 40 nuclear-capable long-range Russian bombers, representing a third of the Russian air missile carrier fleet.

The cost of the damaged or destroyed planes is estimated to be between US$2 and US$7 billion.

Tuesday June 3, 2025 

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Geoff Parker: The Crown, The Treaty, The Promises And The Waitangi Tribunal

At the centennial of the Treaty of Waitangi 1940 Sir Apirana said: “Let me acknowledge first that, in the whole world I doubt whether any native race has been so well treated by a European people as the Maori”

Occasionally, it is alleged that the Government failed to uphold ‘Treaty promises’ in the nineteenth century. Here is my response to that allegation…

Steven Mark Gaskell: The return of the Alliance Party

Just when you thought New Zealand’s political stage had reached peak saturation with virtue signalling and utopian wish crafting, the Alliance Party has decided to stumble back into the spotlight like an aging garage band convinced their 90s demo tape was misunderstood brilliance.

Yes, the same Alliance that flamed out of national politics years ago is now eyeing a return, this time through the back door of local body elections. Because apparently, nothing says “grassroots democracy” like dusting off tired socialist slogans and hoping no one remembers how badly it went the first time.

Dr Don Brash: Why get on the housing ladder?

Almost since I returned to New Zealand from nine years abroad in 1971, there has been a widespread assumption that house prices always go up, if not every single year then almost every single year. And that those prices would rise faster than general inflation and faster than income growth.

As a result of that widespread belief, it was taken as a self-evident truth that the most important financial decision a young person could make was to “get on the property ladder” by borrowing as much money as the bank – the commercial bank or the bank of Mum and Dad – would lend to buy as much house as possible.

Mike's Minute: The Reserve Bank didn't inspire me

Call me superficial, but to watch the Reserve Bank heavyweights lined up, as I did Wednesday post their cash rate decision, I did not see dynamism.

These people outwardly do not fill you with any sense of excitement.

The Reserve Bank is in a spot and, as a result, so are we as a country.

Harris Sultan: Why Britain is falling apart

From a Muslim mayor to an education regulator and Scotland’s next First Minister — Britain is quietly being Islamised. 

Migrant mayors who can’t speak English. School regulators pushing hijabs. Justice ministers pledging loyalty to Sharia. Welcome to 2025 Britain — where faith-based politics and identity quotas are replacing Enlightenment values. 

In this powerful video, Harris Sultan exposes the ideological capture of Britain’s institutions—from education to law—and asks the uncomfortable question: Is this multiculturalism or civilisational suicide?

Tui Vaeau: The Perils of Cultural Tokenism - A Critical Examination of Recent Māori-Centric Initiatives

Why New Zealand’s Obsession with Identity Politics Threatens True National Unity and Meritocracy

In recent times, New Zealand has witnessed a surge in initiatives aimed at promoting Māori culture and recognition. While the intent to honour and integrate Māori heritage is commendable, the execution of these initiatives often borders on tokenism, potentially undermining the very objectives they seek to achieve

Matt Ridley: CRISPR announcement is great moment in medical history

Baby KJ lacked a working copy of a vital gene

The announcement last week that a nine-month-old baby in Philadelphia has been cured of a rare genetic disorder by gene editing is a great moment in medical history. For the first time, doctors have altered a gene inside many cells in the liver of a living human being using CRISPR, the molecular tool borrowed from microbes that can home in on particular DNA sequences and in some cases alter them.

Insights From Social Media

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > "Fly the Woke Skies: Air New Zealand’s New Preferred Supplier Your Identity"

Air New Zealand, our proud national carrier (and 51% taxpayer owned, don’t forget), has decided it’s not enough to simply fly planes or balance books. No, it must now soar to even greater heights of virtue signalling.

Ani O'Brien: "Load of crap" - how radical Māori activism is beyond reproach

The way media and the chattering classes are carrying on you would think Minister Chris Bishop had suggested Stan Walker was “bound to get slapped up” and declared the way to resolve their political differences would be through a boxing match. Instead, the fervent supporter of New Zealand music voiced an opinion at the Aotearoa Music Awards that upset the sensibilities of the painfully self-righteous moneyed cultural elite.

Richard Eldred: It’s Time for the Truth. Here’s the Covid Paper They Don’t Want You to Read

On his Rational Optimist Society Substack, Matt Ridley presents compelling evidence that a lab accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology likely triggered the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s an excerpt:

Philip Crump: Social Media and Sovereignty

Amongst social media oligarchs, Elon Musk is the man of the moment, currently soaking up huge amounts of the spotlight as he combines stunning technological innovation at his various companies with political disruption at the heart of the Trump Administration. But within that group of media titans is another billionaire who rivals Musk for uncompromising audacity - the enigmatic Russian founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov.

Centrist: ‘A load of crap’: Bishop calls out political theatre at music awards

National minister Chris Bishop has apologised for his outburst at the NZ taxpayer-funded Aotearoa Music Awards.

However, Bishop stood by the substance of his comment labelling Stan Walker’s performance “a load of crap”, a reference, he said, not to the music itself but to the overt political symbolism on stage.

Matua Kahurangi: Toitū Te Tiriti

The trojan horse for Te Pāti Māori’s political agenda

I had no intention of wasting time on the Aotearoa Music Awards. These shows have become nothing more than a woke circus, constantly pushing woke bullsh*t instead of celebrating actual musical talent. When Minister Chris Bishop called Stan Walker’s performance “a load of crap,” the reaction on my X timeline was impossible to ignore. So I watched the video for myself.

And you know what? Bishop was right. It was a load of crap.

Monday June 2, 2025 

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Mike Butler: Don’t forget the old pioneers

The Pioneers – Makers of New Zealand, a new book by writer-publisher John McLean, reminds us of those who built New Zealand, tells how, and explains why their contribution should not be forgotten.

McLean descends from an unusual pioneering family of Scots who did a double migration, first to Nova Scotia in 1793, and then on to Waipu, in Bream Bay, Northland, in 1854.

The people behind contractors John McLean and Sons also descended from this group. This company built bridges, railways, most of Wellington’s wharves, the entire Auckland electric tramway system, as well as the early stages of the Otira Tunnel under the southern Alps, starting in 1907.

NZCPR Newsletter: Budget 2025

The 2025 Budget is done and dusted. While the Government claims growth is their priority, there was little within the budget to suggest it will deliver what they hope.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis would have us believe it is a prudent budget that gets us back on track to a surplus in 2029. But is that surplus real - or is National doing exactly what Labour did when they were in Government: changing the way budget measures are reported to make the figures look better than they really are?

Zoran Rakovic - Shadows Over Capital: How Regulatory Uncertainty is Stalling New Zealand’s Economic Future

From Lucas to de Soto, what the world’s greatest economists can teach us about our stifled growth.

New Zealand's prosperity is being quietly strangled—not by taxes, but by regulatory uncertainty. From Lucas to de Soto, the world’s leading economists warn: without clear, stable rules, capital flees. A must-read analysis of where we’re headed and why.

Tui Vaeau: Te Pati Maori's Ethnic Power Play - The Poison at Parliament's Heart

New Zealand will either stand for one law for all or it will fall, piece by piece, to the tyranny of tribalism.

Let us put an end to the national self-delusion: Te Pati Maori is not a political party in the conventional sense. It is an ethno-nationalist grievance syndicate, masquerading as a parliamentary movement while relentlessly undermining the very democratic institution it inhabits. Its modus operandi? Identity extortion, racial romanticism and ritualised victimhood, all while cloaked in cloacal cultural theatre.

Barrie Davis: UK and NZ Politics

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but there have recently been a number of significant issues in UK politics which I have not seen reported in The Post and I wonder if that is because of concerns that there are similarities with New Zealand politics which could inflame the passions of your otherwise docile colonist.

Recent polls in the UK show that right-wing party Reform UK, led by charismatic Nigel Farage of Brexit fame, is eight points ahead of the Labour Government led by PM Sir Keir Starmer: Labour are on 22%, the Tories have declined to 21% and Reform has increased to 30%. Pundits are suggesting that traditional party loyalties are breaking down.

Clive Bibby: Living well without destroying the planet

By chance I noticed this headline on BBC TV news today that resonated.

The reason it caught my attention was because it is a comment that has application to just about every community on the planet, whether they be rich or poor.

And it has particular relevance to low decile communities like ours here on the East Coast because the process of achieving this utopian dream will require a greater degree of self sacrifice from the poorer families than those who already live on easy street.

Ian Bradford: The Anthropogenic Climate Fraud

There are probably a large number of people who wonder why we are going through this climate fiasco. The climate alarmists are still doing their best to scare the population into believing that carbon dioxide only from human activities and methane from cows and other ruminants are causing global warming and the consequences will be dire for humanity.

DTNZ: US-Chinese trade talks ‘stalled’ – Treasury Secretary

Negotiations over tariffs are progressing more slowly than expected, Scott Bessent says,

The trade negotiations between the US and China have “stalled” and may require intervention by the countries’ leaders, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.

Dr Benno Blaschke: Clearing the fog on grocery competition

New Zealanders’ frustration with grocery costs is understandable. When household budgets stretch thin, the instinctive response is to assertively tackle the issue. But if we act hastily, policy may shoot from the hip while ignoring that it is near impossible for new entrants to open supermarkets at scale in New Zealand.

John McLean: Enduring love of big Pharma & Maori quackery

Free societies enjoy a defining feature that distinguishes them from totalitarian States. The particular feature I have in mind is that, in a free society, what’s not prohibited is allowed. In other words, a free society’s citizens - including corporate citizens - can do whatever they like unless it’s legally prohibited. On the other hand, the default setting to which citizens under totalitarianism are subjected is that they can only do what’s expressly authorised by the State; everything else is verboten.

David Farrar: TPM now threatening violence

The Herald reports:

Act leader David Seymour is condemning an “immature” challenge to a charity fight from prominent Treaty activist Eru Kapa-Kingi.

In a video posted to social media yesterday, Kapa-Kingi took exception to Seymour calling his mother, Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, an “idiot” during the House’s debate on the Regulatory Standards Bill last week.

Sunday June 1, 2025 

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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.

John Robertson: Te Whāriki, Māori Spirituality, and the Blurring of State and Religion in NZ Education

New Zealand’s national early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, has undergone significant changes — especially since its 2017 update. While intended to reflect a bicultural framework, this curriculum now includes regular and embedded references to Māori spiritual concepts, including:

Chris Lynch: Insurance costs now a major financial burden as trust in the industry collapses

New Zealanders are sounding the alarm over skyrocketing insurance costs, with new data showing it has become one of the country’s most pressing financial burdens.

Consumer NZ’s latest Sentiment Tracker reveals insurance is now the fourth biggest financial pressure for households, behind housing, food, and debt — up from sixth place in October 2024. The rapid rise reflects widespread frustration as premiums for house, contents, car, and health cover continue to climb.

Brendan O'Neill: The West’s lies about Israel are falling apart

So it seems Mohammed Sinwar is dead. The de facto chief of Hamas in Gaza has been ‘eliminated’, says Israel. Yesterday, in a speech marking 600 days of war between the Jewish State and that army of anti-Semites, Benjamin Netanyahu said Sinwar was indeed killed in Israel’s airstrike on the European Hospital in Khan Younis on 13 May. If this is correct, then it is a blistering defeat not only for Hamas but also for the West’s furiously Israelophobic elites. For one of their chief libels against Israel – that it bombs hospitals for sport – may have just taken one hell of a beating.

Dr Michael Johnston: Smart spending for a smarter future

It is no secret that the government is struggling to balance the country’s books. Yet, in last week’s budget, nearly $2.5 billion was found for new educational initiatives.

This was new spending but not new money. Education Minister Erica Stanford cut ineffective and inefficient educational programmes and reallocated the money.