John Robertson: Erica Stanford Isn’t Just Wrong - She’s Dangerous

Erica Stanford’s Love Affair with Co-Governance Is a National Tragedy for New Zealand.

Let’s stop pretending. Erica Stanford isn’t the Minister of Education anymore — she’s the High Priestess of Apartheid Theology, chanting karakia over the corpse of secular democracy while Parliament claps like hypnotized cultists.

Yes, the latest mutation of the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No. 2) is here, and it stinks of something ancient and authoritarian. Not Māori culture — something far worse: racial theology weaponized through law.

Wayne Ryburn: Letter to Minister Chris Penk

The Minister for Building and Construction, Land information

The Hon. Chris Penk

Dear Chris,

In the West Auckland area of Taupaki-Kumeu, horticulturists including myself, have to comply with water-bore renewal fees which will cost property owning horticulturists $7000 along with a now separate hydrologist's report of $5000 or more, in addition there may also be a water meter verification fee requirement of over $800, the last two having GST added. Our bore consents, which last for 15 years, are due at the end of May this year. In 2012 the consenting renewal cost was only $2500 including gst.

Garrick Tremain: By Way of Explanation

A recent column published here brought much positive comment. Some readers approached me for clarification of my reasons for assessing the merits of the eleven Prime Ministers I served under in 35 years of daily cartooning. I had stated that in my opinion Muldoon, Key and Ardern left the most damage in their wake. I am happy to add my reasons.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Rate caps will only delay the bigger problems

I can see that this idea of forcing rate caps on councils is taking off. So can I just express my concerns about this early on?

I personally love the idea of stopping councils from continually jacking up what they charge us, but I worry that this is not going to fix the situation, because it's not the actual problem, is it?

Breaking Views Update: Week of 22.6.25

Wednesday June 25, 2025 

News:
Chris Finlayson weighs in on Ngāpuhi settlement proposal
Former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson has called Shane Jones' proposal to force New Zealand’s largest iwi Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement “a terrible idea”.

Jones confirmed yesterday that he was drafting a Members' Bill that would stop the Northland tribe from receiving multiple commercial redress packages with smaller groups.

Chris Lynch: BusinessNZ forecast points to cautious optimism for New Zealand economy

New Zealand’s economy is expected to grow by nearly 3 percent by 2027, according to the latest BusinessNZ Planning Forecast, but lingering global and domestic challenges continue to cloud the outlook.

BusinessNZ economist John Pask said the country was still feeling the effects of international instability, which could limit progress in the years ahead.

Olivia Pierson: Trump Acted to Fulfill a Long-Term Promise

Since 2016, President Trump has conducted somewhere in the vicinity of 900 political rallies, an astronomical number befitting the man’s colossal energy and courage.

At nearly all of them, he has consistently maintained that he will never let the Islamic Republic of Iran acquire nuclear weapons. This is simply because he knows that the regime will use them on Israel and the United States. At these same rallies, Trump has consistently stated that he will not involve the U.S in new “forever wars,’ the force of his focus being America First.

Brendan O'Neill: The ‘Forever War’ we should really be worried about

Iran’s ceaseless and racist war on the Jewish State is the true cause of the mayhem in the Middle East.

Two big things happened on Sunday. First, America’s airforce pummelled nuclear sites in Iran. Using B-2 stealth bombers, they spirited bombs weighing 30,000lbs into Iranian airspace and unloaded them over Iran’s three most important uranium-enrichment facilities. The second event was less explosive. It didn’t bother the front pages of the papers nearly as much as America’s strike did. But to my mind it was just as important, certainly for anyone who yearns for a true understanding of what is happening in the Middle East. It was the IDF’s announcement that it had recovered the body of Ofra Kedar from Gaza.

Bruce Cotterill: NZ Government’s progress overshadowed by global economic, political risks

It’s 18 months since the new Government was sworn in.

The mess they inherited has been well documented, so too has their less-than-rapid impact on solving the problems we have. We’re an impatient bunch, and it feels like they’re taking their time.

When we look at many of our problems, we tend to focus on the here and now. The wait times at the hospitals, traffic jams at the roundabout and school exam results to name a few.

Matua Kahurangi: Wellington’s $2.3 million toilet

It should come as no surprise that under Mayor Tory Whanau, Wellington, the most woke city in New Zealand, has just spent $2.3 million on a public toilet block that doubles as a nightly light show.

Spending millions on five cubicles, ribbed timber cladding, designer architecture and $150,000 worth of LED lights? What the actual heck.

Kerre Woodham: US strikes on Iran - where do we go from here?

The world is on fire, World War III imminent, what can New Zealand do? Well, very little.

Those were the headlines over the weekend. After telling the world he'd decide within two weeks whether or not to unleash the power of the United States on Iran in support of Israel, Donald Trump and his administration sent B2 stealth bombers into Iran on Friday to penetrate the underground nuclear facilities deep in the mountains of Iran.

Bob Edlin: Seymour got a laugh in London.....

Seymour got a laugh in London – but tobacco researchers rubbish his remarks as reprehensible

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has been chided by “tobacco researchers” for making remarks about smoking which made a British audience laugh.

Seymour had delivered an address privately to an outfit called the Adam Smith Institute, based in London, during a visit to the UK this month.

Mike's Minute: It's time - cap the rates and can some councils

So having looked at every council in the country and the pending rate rises we are all going to have to pay, a couple of inescapable conclusions are to be drawn.

1) We need central Government to cap rates.

2) We need fewer councils.

If you were to roughly use inflation as a guide, Waitomo and Whanganui are your only councils to get under the wire at 2.93 % and 2.2% – so congratulations to them.

Tuesday June 24, 2025 

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Insights From Social Media

One Race: Humanity — The Illusion of Ancestral Entitlement - John Robertson.

There is only one race: the human race. Despite endless attempts to divide us by skin colour, tribe, whakapapa, or identity labels, the truth is that all human beings share mixed origins. No individual on this Earth today is of pure lineage, nor can any group claim uninterrupted ancestral sovereignty without ignoring the vast, chaotic interbreeding and migration that has defined humanity for tens of thousands of years. Whether you go back 200 years or 200,000, what you find is movement, merging, mating, conflict, survival — and no clear dividing lines.

JC: Trump Puts the World on Notice

Donald Trump should be taken at his word. Both domestically and internationally Trump is carrying out his promises. He is the one (probably the only), leader on the planet who stays true to his word. He has said time and time again, even before he entered politics, that Iran should never have nuclear weapons. Last weekend he translated his words into action.

Ele Ludemann: Too many layers of government

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is open to scrapping regional councils:

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he wants to explore the possibility of scrapping New Zealand’s regional councils as the Government reforms the Resource Management Act.

NZ First minister Shane Jones told a local government forum last week his party does not see a compelling case for maintaining regional government. . .

Wayne Ryburn: Matariki

Who doesn't like a holiday; having a day off from work to celebrate the new year ? But which is the correct day to celebrate it and is Matariki, referred to as the Maori new year, the one that should be celebrated or Puanga?

Star gazing has occurred since the time of the hunter gatherers who made observations tracking celestial events that marked intervals of human time. The waxing and waning of the moon marked out months of the year while the rising of a star often marked the duration of the year.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Don't feel sorry for Iran here

Well, US certainly ramped things up over the weekend, didn't it?

And if you feel like this is an incredibly serious situation right now, you're not wrong, because there are very few examples - if any - of the US involving itself in the Middle East or surrounding areas and making things better. For the most part, it just ends up backfiring or ending badly.

Philip Crump: Operation Midnight Hammer: US Strikes on Iran

For weeks now speculation about potential US military action against Iran’s nuclear programme has dominated the news. The commentary has ranged from the measured analysis of geopolitical experts to the hysterical pronouncements of social media charlatans. Yet, in an extraordinary twist, the most prescient forecast of President Donald Trump’s strategy appears to have come not from military commentators or political pundits, but from Hollywood.

Ian Parmeter: The US has entered the Israel-Iran war - Here are 3 scenarios for what might happen next

After prevaricating about whether the United States would enter Israel’s war on Iran, President Donald Trump finally made a decision.

Early Sunday, US warplanes and submarines struck three of Iran’s nuclear sites at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow, where the Iranians have a uranium enrichment plant buried about 80 metres beneath a mountain.

James Fite: America’s Air Strike - Now Will Iran Negotiate – Or Retaliate?

After previously saying he might take as long as two weeks to make a decision, Donald Trump ordered a surprise weekend air strike on three nuclear sites in Iran. Just after 8 p.m. Eastern, the president announced the “successful” strikes on Truth Social. The response has been a mixed bag, both at home and abroad. Unsurprisingly, many of Trump’s supporters are behind the move, while his detractors act outraged.

Matua Kahurangi: Mariameno Kapa-Kingi wants to talk about Māori children

Just not the ones being murdered

In a recent video shared by the ACT Party, a revealing exchange unfolded between ACT MP Karen Chhour and Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. During a recent discussion, Kapa-Kingi insisted the focus remain solely on Māori children, stating, “You’re assuming that they’re the same as everyone else, and we’re not.”

Kevin: We Were Right, Again

The ethnicity of people involved in grooming gangs has been “shied away from” by authorities, according to a new report by Baroness Louise Casey.

The finding comes after the peer was tasked with producing an audit on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse in England and Wales.

Monday June 23, 2025 

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Mike's Minute: The ACC system still doesn't work

If you didn’t know, ACC is in some fiscal trouble again.

This isn't new. ACC has been in trouble for years.

Last year, 1.6 million of us managed to do something to ourselves which involved money - $4.5 billion dollars worth. That's just on rehab.

The total is $7 billion paid out.

Elizabeth Rata: Letter to the Minister of Education

Sent 22nd June 2025

Hon Erica Stanford
Minister of Education
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

Dear Ms Stanford

I write to ask if you would re-consider the inclusion of Section 9 and Section 127 in the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No 2) 2025 on the basis that they are not relevant to the regulation of the education system. (See the Coalition Agreement’s statement about Treaty relevance.)

Point of Order: A bad day for America’s enemies

The American strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities may end up being a bad day for a lot of people – but with luck, mainly for the autocrats, appeasers and anti-democrats.

There is a smidgen of sympathy for the Iranian regime. Every child with a stick eventually learns it’s not a good idea to keep provoking. But who would have thought that Donald Trump – the great peace president – would be the one to accept the informal declaration of war issued by the Iranian regime’s precursors on 4 November 1979.

JD: GDP vs CO2

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

Over the past 35 years, world GDP growth has been over 400 per cent in nominal terms, or 170 per cent when adjusted for inflation. Since GDP is another term for economic output, from services, transport, manufacturing and agriculture, all belching out CO2, we must be going to global warming hell in a handbasket right?

David Farrar: The new three strikes law is now operative

The new three strikes law is now operative. It is not as strong as I wanted, but still should lead to the worst criminals not getting out so quickly.

There are 43 offences (serious violent and sexual) that can cause a strike. How the strikes work:

John Robertson: You’re Not a Racist — You’re Just Done With Religion Disguised as Culture

Education and Training Amendment Bill (No 2)

New Zealand was meant to be a secular democracy. Instead, we’ve got a government pushing a bill that wraps spiritual beliefs in “culture” and slips them into our schools.

This isn’t about honouring heritage — it’s about normalising prayers to gods in taxpayer-funded classrooms, without ever calling it religion. Because religion gets criticised — but culture? Culture is sacred. Mandatory. Untouchable.

Ani O'Brien: Iran wants to destroy the West & the West is clueless

Whoopi Goldberg has spectacularly announced that being black in America is worse than being a woman in Iran. It is a mind-blowingly ignorant statement that betrays just how little some Americans know about Iran and indeed anything beyond their borders. To be fair that ignorance is echoed around the rest of the West.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: The demise of a Wellington icon

Minister Chris Bishop has swung his ministerial wrecking ball at Wellington. He will strip the Gordon Wilson Flats of its heritage protection. At last, the bulldozers can begin.

What a loss to world culture this will be. Forget Paris, Cairo or Rome. For over a decade Wellington has been conserving its own decaying monument to another time.

Dr Michael Johnston: What to do about teaching?

For two decades, New Zealand’s school education system has been in a death spiral.

In 2007, the Ministry of Education adopted a curriculum bereft of knowledge. A few years earlier it had implemented NCEA, an unorthodox ‘standards-based’ approach to school qualifications. NCEA encourages fragmented teaching and rewards superficial learning.

Insights From Social Media

Kōkā: Starring Your Tax Dollars And A Half-empty Hall”

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Oh, wonderful yet another taxpayer-funded cinematic masterpiece destined to pack out... well, maybe half a community hall if they offer free snacks.

Lindsay Mitchell: Is 'by Maori for Maori' shifting the dial?

On June 18, 2025, Health New Zealand published extensive data (March 2025 quarter) in a two-page spread contained in The Post. I assume this was replicated in other New Zealand newspapers. Included were childhood immunisation rates.

At the bottom of the table for full immunisation at 24 months are Northland and Tairawhiti districts (improving trend) followed by Bay of Plenty and Waikato (worsening trend). These regions all have high Maori populations.

Sunday June 22, 2025 

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Ani O'Brien: A Week Is A Long Time - 21 June 2025

New Zealand suspends aid to Cook Islands over China ties

The Government has paused $18.2 million in aid to the Cook Islands, citing concerns over a lack of transparency regarding its agreements with China. These deals, signed in February, include infrastructure and educational projects but do not involve security cooperation. New Zealand views the Cook Islands' failure to consult on these agreements as a breach of the free association compact.

Zoran Rakovic: When the Crown Stands Alone

What if Treaty obligations returned to the Crown—where they belong? Explore why iwi may soon rush to settle, not because of impatience, but insolvency.

There is an unwritten maxim among distressed creditors: settle while the pot still has something in it. This principle, though rarely invoked by name in Treaty politics, may prove to be the most important yet unspoken factor in determining the pace and finality of Crown–iwi settlements in the years ahead. Māori iwi, long accustomed to protracted negotiations with the Crown, may discover that when the burden of Treaty obligations is reloaded back onto the Crown—where it legally belongs—rather than endlessly diffused among councils, businesses, and ordinary citizens, their incentive structure to hold out indefinitely will collapse. For as long as the Crown is permitted to socialise its fiduciary debts—to pay them not from its own coffers but through the energies, rates, and regulatory concessions of citizens—Treaty settlements risk becoming a perpetuity, not a closure. But if that circuit is broken, then economic logic, not cultural metaphysics, will shape the settlement timeline.

Barrie Davis: Divisive Matariki Propaganda

There was an article in The Post on 20 June – Matariki - “Treaty Principles Bill debate has seen top NZ business leaders recommit to inclusion” by Antonia Watson, chief executive of ANZ, and Roger Gray, chief executive of Port of Auckland (here).

They are business leaders and write in support of promoting diversity and inclusion in their organizations and others. They outline our changing demographics and claim: “We have a choice to either lean in and face our new future together collectively as a nation or be left behind.”

Dr David Lillis: Farming by the Stars?

Lunar Calendars for Farming?

The New Zealand Herald has just published another piece on farming according to astronomical phenomena (NZ Herald, 2025). We are told that as “Aotearoa” celebrates Matariki weekend, it is a good time to look at how Māori farmers used the Maramataka, the lunar year, to guide farming practices and that the Matariki hākari (feast) is the time to celebrate the kai that comes from the land of Kiwi farms.

Clive Bibby: Who pays the Piper!

Recent efforts by the current Government to balance the Nation’s books were, as you would expect, received unfavourably by the parties of the “Left.”

No surprises there because the job of the Opposition is to oppose moves that are perceived to be not in the best interests of those they represent.

Professor Elizabeth Rata: Submission to the Select Committee on the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No 2) 2025

Submission to the Select Committee on the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No 2) 2025

LEGISLATION AND HONOURING THE TREATY OF WAITANGI

Introduction

Alwyn Poole: The current NZ government is already too little too late on significant aspects of education

I have been in teaching/education since 1991 and chosen to do an annual analysis of the New Zealand system through processing a range of data.

There is no doubt, regardless of who is in government, that the performance of the NZ system has been in decline – especially in the last 15 years – based on internal and international measures.

Tim Donner: The MAGA Divide on Iran - Hawks vs Doves

President Donald Trump is facing a serious dilemma regarding Israel and Iran. He stands for three things that may soon come into direct conflict with each other. He is, above all, America-First, but he is also a self-proclaimed crusader for peace and a transactional, pragmatic chief executive. That first identifying trait suggests Trump will protect American interests at all costs, eschewing the nation-building of previous presidents. The second translates to avoiding another foreign war, this time in Iran. The third calls for a pragmatic, realistic assessment of Iran’s ongoing threat to US national security and the ripe opportunity before him to eliminate it once and for all.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Learning from the Dutch

Next week, The New Zealand Initiative will take more than three dozen business leaders to the Netherlands. Why the Netherlands?

Our international delegations visit small, successful economies. After three previous visits to Switzerland, Denmark and Ireland, we now turn to the Dutch.

Both New Zealand and the Netherlands are maritime economies with strong agricultural sectors. But the similarities end there.

David Farrar: Will Labour go into coalition with a party that accused it of genocide?

Liam Hehir notes:

Imagine if somebody repeatedly accused you of genocide. Would you want them in government with you? Would you be offended at the suggestion? Or would you tacitly concede the high ground to them?

For Chris Hipkins and Labour, this isn’t a thought experiment.

Saturday June 21, 2025 

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Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Miliband’s humiliation

UK

Gas prices up

Gas prices rose by nearly 20% after Israel and Iran started bombing each others’ territories. Some observers wondered about the wisdom of Ed Miliband’s efforts to close down UK oil and gas production.

Ross Meurant: Spot the Difference - or the Similarity

Drug Cartels in Central & South America, have massive influence on who stays alive and who dies. Anyone who stands against or interferes in the commercial operations of suppling drugs to the major market i.e. America, is in serious danger of death. Such is the power of fear imposed on populations where these parasitic elements operate with virtual impunity.

The latest example being Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, a 39-year-old senator who remains in intensive care after he was shot three times - twice in the head - at a campaign event in the capital, Bogotá.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 15.6.25

Saturday June 21, 2025 

News:
New classrooms for Kura Kaupapa announced
The government has announced $28 million will be spent on building more "safe, warm and dry classrooms" for tamakari in Māori full immersion schools.

Twenty new classrooms will be built across four providers, and work will begin on the first stage of a new school north of Auckland.

John Robertson: Matariki the spiritual spearhead of a broader ideological movement

Now, cue the inevitable deflection: “But what about Christmas and Easter?”

It’s the go-to rebuttal. As if raising questions about one tax-funded spiritual holiday demands you condemn all the others. But let’s get something straight — this isn’t about whether a holiday has religious roots. It’s about how that holiday functions today.

Graeme Spencer: The South Canterbury Museum promotes matariki as a special day.

 Special day - what a joke - it wasn't, still isn't, it was relatively unknown until comrade Jacinda promoted it in an effort to bestow Maori wonderfulness on an unsuspecting public. It didn't bother her that it costs NZ businesses around $450 million per year.

Matariki was never a maori "thing". The so called maori new year is just a woke cultural appropriation of something that never was. Do people not wonder why it's never been celebrated before and all of a sudden it appears on the scene and nobody questions it?

So what are we celebrating here ?

Chris Lynch: Government launches major overhaul of transport rules to lift productivity

The Government has announced a sweeping reform of New Zealand’s land transport rules, aiming to cut red tape, reduce costs, and boost productivity across the country’s transport system.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the current rules framework was out of date and burdened everyday road users and businesses with unnecessary compliance costs.