Breaking Views Update: Week of 29.6.25

Tuesday July 1, 2025 

News:
Mauao guardianship reaffirmed in Bay of Plenty
The joint protection and management of Mauao has been reaffirmed in the Bay of Plenty, with the Mauao Trust and Tauranga City Council signing a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) this month.

John McLean: High Time To Wield The Axe

Tribal threats to New Zealand’s democracy must get the chop, before it’s too late

There’s no such thing as pan-Māoridom. Never has been. Not before colonisation, and not now. “Māori” are a collection of separate tribes (iwi), which now number about 150. None of these tribes were or are democratic. The head of each iwi hierarchy is a paramount chief, the Ariki, typically an inherited status. At the bottom of each traditional Māori tribe were the slaves and baby girls.

So it should come as no surprise that many Māori leaders are no fans of democracy.

Philip Cranmer: Antarctic Ambitions - China’s Expansion and New Zealand’s Scott Base Redevelopment

As New Zealand moves forward with the redevelopment of Scott Base, China has submitted plans for its sixth station on the continent.

Earlier this month, Antarctica New Zealand announced the selection of a new contractor to assist with the design and delivery of the redevelopment of Scott Base. The base is New Zealand’s only Antarctic research station, located 3800km south of Christchurch and 1350km from the South Pole.

Damien Grant: How an author and billionaire changed the lives of thousands of Kiwi kids

Early in the book Once Were Warriors Beth is watching television and notices that the houses on television are filled with books. She inspects the house she shares with Jake and comes to the realisation that there are no books. None of the houses Beth has ever lived in had books.

Graham J Noble: The Media’s Narrative on Iran Strikes Sustains Critical Damage

The Islamic Republic’s nuclear program wasn’t the only thing crippled in the past week.

Did anyone expect the establishment media to applaud President Donald Trump’s decision to order strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran? Probably not. Maybe we could at least have hoped that anti-Trump news outlets would not go full Baghdad Bob and claim the historic raid was a failure. Yet that is exactly what CNN and The New York Times did with a little help from a hastily put together Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) damage assessment that was conveniently leaked to the cable news network in record time. But that media narrative has already crumbled as if it had also been hit by one of those Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) devices recently delivered – business end first – to the Islamic Republic.

Eliora: National Is the Sneaky Party

We in New Zealand suffered years of utter despair caused by the aptly described ‘worst prime minister the country has ever experienced’. Jacinda Ardern ruled with ruthless nastiness, under the hypocritical guise of being ‘kind’. Ardern was mean, fake and deceitful.

Kevin: It Ain’t Over

How is the endgame going to be played out? Honestly, I don’t know. But you can bet that Trump and Netanyahu are surrounded by people who are strategy experts.

They say that on the world stage you’re either playing chess or you’re playing poker.

Ananish Chaudhuri: Why are high achieving teens headed overseas and why this is not necessarily a good idea

Why are high achieving teens headed overseas and why this is not necessarily a good idea

Part 1: Why are high achieving teens headed overseas and why this is not necessarily a good idea

Part 2: Why going to study overseas, particularly Australia, is not necessarily a good idea

 Monday June 30, 2025 

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