Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Is there a bright side to all the bad economic news?

I’m sorry to say it’s a bit of a bad day - a day of rather unpleasant economic news, I’m afraid.

Let’s start with the GDP number. It came in at 0.2 percent for the final quarter of last year, which is very much at the low end of expectations. We were looking for something in the range of 0.2 percent to 0.5 percent, with 0.5 percent being the Reserve Bank’s forecast.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 14.3.26

Friday March 20, 2026 

News:
Taxpayers’ Union Backs NPDC Mayor For Halting $1m Hapū Deal
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is backing New Plymouth District Council Mayor Max Brough for pausing a proposed service level agreement reportedly worth close to $1 million with Puketapu Hapū.

Taxpayers’ Union Investigations Coordinator, Rhys Hurley, said:

Dr James Allan: What’s So Great About Diversity?

‘Diversity is our strength.’ One hears this, or myriad variants of the same idea, unrelentingly. Certainly I work in an Australian university where the extent of higher-ups pushing this notion does indeed qualify as unrelenting, even matching totalitarian state levels of propaganda. But even outside the hallowed halls of impartial, politically balanced academia (did I write that with a straight face?) the mantra or cliché that diversity somehow delivers a stronger balance sheet or a more cohesive society or just better outcomes is pervasive in today’s democracies that have committed themselves to multiculturalism and to the various neo-Marxist versions of feminism. Sure, those spouting these ‘diversity is a panacea’ nostrums never cash out the claim. They never tell us precisely how ‘diversity’ is making society better or wealthier or more unified. We are all just supposed to take it on faith, as it were. We’re just to believe the bureaucratic, political and various professional bodies’ elites who push this line, and believe it simply because they are the ones telling us it’s so.

Dave Patterson: Trump Wants Help Securing the Strait of Hormuz

Securing and keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is a key objective of the war against Iran. It’s a big job that requires the suppression of Iranian anti-ship missiles and drones and the destruction of Iran’s capability to produce more such weapons. Though the United States is capable of doing the job, other countries, particularly those in Europe and NATO, have an interest in ensuring the strait remains secure. Consequently, President Donald Trump is asking for assistance in protecting ships transiting the Hormuz Strait. Initially, he received a cool reception.

Graham Adams: Media Campaign Against Luxon Risks Backfiring

Barristers often warn their juniors of the dangers of excessively badgering or humiliating a witness in court. There is always the risk that the jury’s sympathy will shift sharply towards the witness if they are suddenly seen as a victim of bullying.  

The media may be making a similar error in their attacks on Christopher Luxon, which many voters will see as going well beyond reasonable political criticism. In fact, some media outlets are making themselves look recklessly partisan in what appears to be an attempt to unseat the Prime Minister and reduce the chances of a National-led government returning to power in November.

Mike's Minute: Further proof the taxpayer poll was an outlier

Does the Talbot Mills poll out yesterday blow wide open the overt and corrupt actions of the parts of the media that went to town last week, and the week before, on the Prime Minister?

Does the Talbot Mills poll out yesterday with National on 32% also build on evidence that they are not 28%, nor were they ever 28%, therefore there was never a need to go to town last week, and the week before, on the Prime Minister?

Kerre Woodham: At what point does it become unaffordable to work?

To me, what is news is the fact that there are so many people who are working vital jobs, who are doing incredibly important work like our home support workers, and they are really struggling because of the petrol prices. That to me is news, and that to me is something we can do something about. That is going to impact us all as petrol prices surge past three bucks a litre. Sky appears to be the limit. It's going to impact all of us, even the EV drivers who'll end up paying more for anything that's delivered by road. But it's the people like the home support workers who rely on their own cars and fuel to visit their clients that you worry about. It's particularly tough.

Bob Edlin: Māori activists are buoyed by decision to drop Treaty vandalism charges....

Māori activists are buoyed by decision to drop Treaty vandalism charges – but Te Papa prefers to stay stum

An outfit called Te Waka Hourua issued a press statement to welcome a court’s dismissal of all charges against someone named Te Wehi Ratana “for action taken At Te Papa In ’23”.

Action?

That’s one word for it.

Blatant vandalism is another.

David Farrar: An outrageous legal complaint decision overturned

An Area Standards Committee of the Law Society fined Stephen Franks and Franks Ogilvy for, well being lawyers. They sent a letter on behalf of their client to health professionals involved in “gender affirming care”.

The ASC found that they had “used a legal process for an improper purpose”, censured them and fined them.

David Farrar: Desperation from Labour

A journalist asked Nicola Willis whether she would advise people to “ease back on the accelerator” or consider working from home due to higher petrol prices.

Nicola explicitly said she was “very reluctant to adopt the role of the schoolma’am telling people what to do with their own lives”. She went on to say that people will make their own choices based on their circumstances. That NZers are sensible. So she was explicitly saying, no she won’t tell people what to do.

Thursday March 19, 2026 

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Insights From Social Media: National’s ‘Service Delivery Plan’

Re National’s ‘Service Delivery Plan’ Graeme Spencer writes.

Since the inception of the "Local Water Done Well" reforms, I have always questioned what the end game is.

Forgive my scepticism, but anything involving water reform now tends to raise the hackles. After years of "improving water quality", we’ve seen millions, possibly billions, flow steadily into consultants, strategies, delivery plans, reform programmes, governance models, transition frameworks, and then revised versions of all of the above. None of this expenditure has reached our pipes, plants, or reservoirs.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Another common-sense move from Erica Stanford

Okay, once again - not for the first time on this show and probably not the last - thank goodness for Erica Stanford.

Normally, she’s righting wrongs in education but today it’s her other portfolio: immigration.

Ryan Bridge: Why today’s GDP number is not irrelevant

Old, yes. Backward looking, by its nature, but not irrelevant.

We’re tipped to grow around 0.3%-0.4% for Q4 2025. It would mark, barring any surprises, the second straight month of per capita growth on the trot.

That means average income and standard of living was ticking up on a per persons basis, albeit from a low base.

Mike's Minute: The Hipkins allegations and effect

I suppose the ultimate question is, what do you want in a leader, or more specifically, the Prime Minister?

Chris Hipkins is immersed in a growing mess around social media and an angry ex-wife.

Hand on heart, if it hadn't been sent to me I would not have asked, because I genuinely don’t care.

Guest Post: The Path Back: New Zealand’s 50‑Year Drift — And How We Can Still Turn Around

Wayne Jackson writes on Point of Order

New Zealand likes to imagine itself as a small nation that punches above its weight. But for the past 50 years, we’ve been punching underwater.

Since 1973 — the year Britain joined the European Economic Community and our guaranteed market vanished — New Zealand has been drifting while the rest of the world has been moving with purpose. The countries we once outperformed have overtaken us. The ones we used to pity now lap us. And the reason is painfully simple: when the world changed, New Zealand didn’t.

Peter Williams: National about to lock-in co-governance of local water

The following was written in Peter's capacity as Taxpayers' Union board member

In 2022, I joined the Board of the Taxpayers’ Union to fight Nanaia Mahuta’s plan to confiscate community-owned water assets and put them into ‘co-governed’ Three Waters entities.

And with the Luxon-led Government being elected with such a clear mandate, I thought we had won.

So it gives me no pleasure to give you the bad news. Co-governance of local water is back.

Centrist: If ministers can’t interfere, who fixes state-media bias?

Who is accountable at TVNZ?

Editorial independence protects TVNZ from political interference. But when balance fails, who is actually accountable?

Tim Donner: On the Brink - Long National Nightmare for Cuba Is Almost Over

Poverty. Hunger. Disease. Darkness. Misery. These have, for 67 years, been the defining characteristics of life in Cuba, a beautiful island nation 90 miles from American shores, brought to its knees by communism. Since Fidel Castro seized power on New Year’s Day 1959, the country has been in a death spiral, propped up for years by Soviet communists, then by Venezuela’s discount oil courtesy of President Nicolás Maduro until his capture. But now, finally, the totalitarian regime that has enslaved the people of Cuba has weakened to the point that its demise appears imminent.

Roger Partridge: Supreme Court matters - Why lawyers need to speak out

Imagine a system in which those who understand it best see a problem developing – slowly, incrementally, case by case – but choose not to say so publicly. Not because they are forbidden to speak. Not because they are ignorant. But because speaking carries personal cost, while silence is professionally safer.

The system continues to function. No single failure is dramatic enough to force action. Each adjustment can be defended on its own terms. Outsiders assume that if something were seriously wrong, those closest to it would say so.

Over time, the problem becomes structural. By the time it is widely acknowledged, it is no longer easy to reverse.

Matua Kahurangi: NZ First draws a hard line on global interference

For a long time, there has been a quiet but growing tension between national sovereignty and the expanding influence of international bodies. That tension came into sharp focus during and after Covid-19, when global coordination often blurred into expectation, and expectation into pressure. Decisions that affect the daily lives of New Zealanders began to feel increasingly shaped by consensus overseas rather than accountability at home.

That is why this move matters.

Kerre Woodham: New Zealand's conflict of interest problem

What I found more outrageous on the internet yesterday was yet another example of this country's propensity for doling out jobs for the boys and indeed the girls. Every political party does it, every government does it, rewards the party faithful and their generous donors and backers with cushy sinecures. Grafter-in-chief would have to be Trevor Mallard's posting to Dublin – although would it? Because there are plenty of other opportunities to point the finger. Look at Simon Bridges, the ex-National Party leader was appointed as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency, Waka Kotahi, in March 24.

David Farrar: The $30 billion Covid splurge on non-Covid projects

Nicola Willis wrote:

Chris Hipkins has let the truth slip about Labour’s Covid spending.

On Newstalk ZB yesterday he admitted the Labour Government would have gone ahead with many of its spending decisions even without the cover of the pandemic.

Wednesday March 18, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The National Party needs to rethink its plan for this election

We need to talk about inflation, because inflation is making me pretty sure now that the National Party needs to rethink its plan for this election.

We’ve just had the food inflation data out today. No surprise - food has gone up in price again in the year to February, up 4.5 percent.

Karl du Fresne: A masterclass in damage control, and Labour's PR flunkies didn't have to lift a finger

It has been fascinating to observe the media’s treatment of allegations against Labour leader Chris Hipkins by his ex-wife. 

The first thing to note was the uniformity of the coverage. It was as if the political editors of the mainstream news outlets hurriedly got their heads together when the news broke yesterday and decided on a common approach.

Mike's Minute: Invented stories and the media

How long can you pedal an invention?

On Friday March 6th the poll is out. It's bad for National and the media has concocted the idea that as a result of these numbers and the previous Monday's press conference about the war, that things have got so bad for the Prime Minister he is “considering his position over the weekend”.

Ashley Church: This Is More Dangerous Than the Media

The real threat is the one that you don't recognise.

Most people in the Western world have now worked out that the old media priesthood can no longer be trusted – but there’s one media organisation, in particular, that constitutes a greater threat to free speech than, arguably, all of the others combined.

It isn’t the New York Times, the Washington Post, or even the BBC. Nor is it CBC, in Canada, the ABC, in Australia, or even TVNZ or RNZ here in New Zealand.

David Farrar: Urgency Stats Part 2

In this part, I look at how often urgency has been used to bypass select committee consideration of a bill, and also how often the 6 months standard consultation period has been reduced.

This practice is what should most strongly be pushed back. Bypassing select committee robs the public of the ability to submit on laws, and also for technical improvements to be identified.

Gary Judd KC: Lessons from Iran

The dangers of appeasement

There are lessons to be learned from what has happened to and in Iran. Without doubt there is more to be learned, and more will become apparent in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. One such lesson has been taught through history but is forgotten more often than remembered.

Appeasement, the attempt to avoid conflict and to maintain or restore peace, may sometimes be a virtue but is frequently capitulation to evil actors. Those who have the power but, for whatever reason, lack the inclination to stand up for what is right often find that visions of peace are a mere illusion or fabrication of the mind. They may find that the goodwill they thought to buy through appeasement is rewarded with aggression and the sacrifice of innocent victims to the whims of persons of authoritarian temperament who now have totalitarian power.

Pee Kay: Ponder These…

Do you ever read a newspaper headline and think WTF or wonder what the hell the writer was trying to prove?

I find it almost impossible these days to read articles in the Herald and not contemplate what lies beyond the headline, what questions hasn’t the “reporter” asked, what hasn’t been said, what is the “other side of the coin.”

Here are examples from yesterday’s paper –

Ian Wishart: ‘Son, your ego is writing cheques your body can’t cash’

It was memorable advice in the 1986 movie Top Gun, and it’s advice that Labour party alumni Phil Goff and Helen Clark should pay heed to still, as they make calls for NZ to take a “principled stand” on the Iran conflict.

Both those politicians (Clark, then a backbench MP and Goff, a cabinet minister) were members of a government that was publicly promising “New Zealand justice is not for sale, the convicted Rainbow Warrior bombers must serve their allotted sentences”, while behind the scenes we were furiously trying to sell that same justice system to the French, working out a plan to allow the prisoners to be deported swiftly.

DTNZ: India comments on Strait of Hormuz talks with Iran

There is no “blanket arrangement” between New Delhi and Tehran on the movement of ships, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has said.

The Liberia-flagged Suezmax tanker Shenlong, carrying crude oil, among the first ships to reach India amid the Middle East crises, is seen at Mumbai Port on March 12, after sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. © Photo by Imtiyaz Shaikh/Anadolu via Getty Images

Talks with Iran are the most “effective way” to restart the passage of ships through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has said.

Bob Edlin: If skydiving spending from the Govt is wasteful, what has Goldsmith done about it?

Let’s not jump to conclusions – if skydiving spending from the Govt is wasteful, what has Goldsmith done about it?

PoO expects to hear a staunch defence of its activities from the New Zealand Skydiving School in Parakai, after the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union revealed that more than $1.1 million in taxpayer funding has been spent subsidising a Diploma in Commercial Skydiving through the Government’s Fees Free tertiary education scheme.

The press release containing this revelation said:

Tuesday March 17, 2026 

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NZCPR Newsletter: Tikanga On Trial

At the Wellington District Court on 10 March 2026, charges of intentional damage and obstructing police against the protester who defaced Te Papa’s Treaty of Waitangi exhibit in 2023 were dismissed.

Professor John Raine: It’s Election Year but Are They Listening?

Wobbly Democracy in the Western World

Danyl McLauchlan’s Listener article [1] on New Zealand’s voter tribes highlights the complexity the political parties face in harvesting votes, particularly from the “alienated conservatives” and “precarious left.”

The article also touches on something else - trust in government. Western democracy is not doing well - authoritarian behaviour from governments on issues where they do not have a mandate, and public service bureaucracies (not much of a stretch to say “deep state”) undermining elected governments. Governments also ignore information/advice that would steer them away from counterproductive policy.

Ryan Bridge: Nicola Willis is right not to splash the cash

A 1pm presser and Covid‑style alert levels.

This fuel price spike is bringing back bad memories from those dark days of lockdown.

But a few facts help put things in perspective.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: It wasn't a mistake to cancel the EV subsidy

The Government is copping heat today for cancelling the EV subsidy a couple of years ago. Critics now say it looks like a mistake, because oil prices are rising and, as a result, petrol prices are rising too.

They argue that, of course, we’d all be better off in electric vehicles - which we supposedly would have been if the Government hadn’t cancelled the subsidy at the end of 2023.

Ryan Bridge: Labour shouldn't automatically back the Unions

Last week ended with a bizarre situation where Labour effectively came out against a pay rise for teachers.

They did this because that’s what the unions wanted. And what the unions want, the unions usually get.

Union strategy 101 is getting everyone who’s not a member to become one.

Geoff Parker: The Māori Seats - History, Not Myth

Professor Anaru Eketone claims the Māori electorates were a cynical device to suppress Māori political influence.(paywalled) The historical record suggests the opposite: the Māori seats were created to bring Māori into the parliamentary system and guarantee representation, rather than exclude them.

By 1867, when the Māori Representation Act 1867(1) passed, Europeans outnumbered Māori roughly four to one. In 1864 there were about 62,000 adult European men, but only around 19,500 were on the electoral rolls. Many more were actually qualified under the property franchise but had not enrolled. Even so, the number of potential settler voters already exceeded the total number of adult Māori men in the country(2). Any fear that Māori might “outvote Europeans” was therefore absurd.

Peter Williams: Royal Commission always destined to come up short

Confidence we'd get a hard hitting report was low

There were numerous warning signs Phase 2 of the Royal Commission into the Covid Response would produce a disappointing outcome.

The initial terms of reference specifically excluded an adversarial approach where evidence and submissions could and would be challenged.

Pee Kay: The Man Who Would Be King

The 1975 film Man Who Would Be King is an historical adventure film that is an adaptation of the famous short story by Rudyard Kipling that tells the story of two ex-soldiers in India when it was under British rule. They decide that the country is too small for them, so they head off to isolated “Kafiristan” in order to become Kings in their own right.

Matua Kahurangi: Move-on orders - useful tool or dangerous overreach?

The Government’s introduction of move-on orders has sparked plenty of debate. Whenever a new power like this is handed to authorities, it is worth pausing for a moment and asking the obvious question, how far could it go?

Kerre Woodham: The entire fuel situation is a mess

How about that petrol, eh? I filled up on Thursday, as usual, that's my usual day. Just the car, no jerry cans, no oil drums, thanks very much, and I thought to myself, $2.95 - she's getting up there. Bargain now, looking at the pumps.

Our colleague Kylie, who has to travel north most weekends, reckons she paid an extra $80 above what she would normally pay for her weekend tikitouring.

JC: A Man After My Own Heart

Last week I wrote an article on the journalists at Wellington Airport accosting the prime minister following a bad TPU/Curia poll and asking about his intentions about staying in the job. In the Weekend Herald, Bruce Cotterill, a man after my own heart, has written a lengthier and broader article on the state of the six o’clock news. He is, quite rightly, fairly critical of the news provided by the state broadcaster on TV One. He is no more enamoured with the journalists than I am. ThreeNews also failed to impress. His article is well worth a read and few, if any, on this site would disagree with his comments.

David Farrar: Urgency in the House Part 1

As a keen follower of Parliament, one of the issues I have tracked in the past has been use of urgency. Back in around 2011 I was concerned about the amount of urgency being used, and actually worked with Grant Robertson and Trevor Mallard to publicise its use and overuse. I am told that campaign was part of the following reduction in urgency.

I’ve been meaning to do a follow up for some time, as there has been a lot of urgency in the last two years.

Mike's Minute: Is the Government ignoring advice for a reason?

Yet another “advice ignored” story.

The trouble with advice is it's not automatically right and more often than not the media seems to think it counts for something, hence their obsession with coverage.

The latest example is Paul Goldsmith ignored advice around move-on orders.

Monday March 16, 2026 

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Damien Grant: John Key and Jacinda Ardern both turned to debt when disaster hit

There are many revelations in the Covid report that a cantankerous columnist with libertarian inclinations could focus on but I am going to bring your attention to this one;

“… a country’s opportunity to adopt an exclusion/elimination policy is largely contingent on … being a high-income nation … that is, on New Zealand’s ability to efficiently produce the goods and services demanded in global markets, supported by prudent economic policies.”

Reynold Macpherson: Who Does Rotorua Lakes Council Serve?

Two Issues, Two Signs, Four Years, and Falling Legitimacy.

Voter turnout in Rotorua Lakes Council elections has remained below half of eligible voters for many years. Turnout was 45.99% in 2016 and 45.15% in 2019. It rose slightly to 46.46% in 2022, possibly reflecting controversy over proposed co-governance changes, yet still fewer than half of voters participated. In the 2025 election turnout fell again to 43.27%, despite record spending by officials intended to boost participation. Taken together, these figures suggest a persistent and now worsening problem of civic disengagement that raises questions about the legitimacy of Rotorua’s local government.

Clive Bibby: Predicting Elections

Predicting General election results is always a difficult task but this time the soothsayers have reason to be confident.

Voting in a general election usually results in a referendum on Incumbent government performance and consequently, the result will more than likely reflect the public mood .in November.

John McLean: Wrecking Race Hustler Gets A Free Pass

A new low from New Zealand’s criminal injustice system

On 10 March 2026, the Wellington District Court dismissed all criminal charges that had been laid against a man named Te Wehi Ratana. The charges Ratana was facing were for his role in the vandalism of an exhibit at New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa, on 11 December 2023. The charges Ratana was facing included intentional damage, obstructing police, and breach of bail. Ratana’s breach of bail charge evidences that, when he was busy vandalizing, he was already facing other criminal charges. Ratana is a career criminal.

Dr Oliver Harwich: Faith-based asset management

There is something almost admirable about spending a fortune on roads, pipes, schools and hospitals without quite knowing what state any of them are in. Or, in some cases, where exactly they are.

For decades, nobody bothered to check. Now someone finally has.

Dr Benno Blaschke: Named but not defined

New Zealand’s Planning Bill is supposed to make housing affordable. For the first time, the law would require the planning system to create competitive land markets. That is a big deal, if it works. But the Bill has a problem.

When zoning restricts what can be built and where, owners of land where building is allowed have a strong upper hand. The Bill aims to flip that around by making enough land available across the wider urban area so that landowners have to offer better deals for buyers. This disciplines land values, exerting downward pressure on house prices.