David Round: Forest and Bird Drift Left

As you may know, I resigned as a member of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society a couple of years ago, dismayed that its enthusiasm for undefined but radical ‘Treaty principles’ was actually harming the conservation cause. F&B’s complete refusal to respond to any of my letters did not help.

Clive Bibby: Responding to a changing economy

Having just relocated to the Naki from our beloved East Coast, I am able to view the Government’s handling of a changing economy from a different regional perspective.

And while there appear to be similar debilitating pressures on the family budget, no matter which part of the country you regard as home, there are also distinct differences based both on how citizens are handling the hard times but also the remedies they are using in trying to accommodate them.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 20.9.26

Saturday September 26, 2026 

News:
Māori words in curriculum shouldn't be controversial, principals say
Principals and a Māori language advocate are angry and disappointed by the Education Ministry's treatment of te reo Māori and the secrecy that has surrounded it.

Multiple Education Ministry whistleblowers have told RNZ this week that managers told them to delete the term Aotearoa and other Māori words from official documents.

Dame Elizabeth Rata: Episode 4 - Secularism and Moral Instruction

In the video below, Episode 4 explains why public schools were secular. The purpose was to create a tolerant and cohesive civil society for New Zealand's liberal democracy. Secularism was neither pro-or anti-religion.

Mike's Minute: Council amalgamation – something else this Govt didn't deliver

Andrew Little had a good crack at the Government over council amalgamation.

He got interrupted by an alarm but made his point and his disappointment is well-founded.

My major criticism of this Government is they said a lot of stuff they simply didn’t deliver on.

David Harvey: Sunset for the Broadcasting Standards Authority

A Bill that is Better Late Than Never

The Broadcasting (Disestablishment of Broadcasting Standards Authority) Amendment Bill was introduced into Parliament on 22 September 2026 – one day before the House rises for the final time before the election.

It will not get a first reading in the current session and the plan is that it will remain, hopefully to be picked up and advanced by a returned version of the current coalition Government.

What this amounts to is a symbolic gesture and an expression of hope.

Rodney Hide: The model you can’t read

My earlier column was motivated by a Seek ad. This one is what that ad named and DOC will not publish.

A “new DOC Treaty Operating Model.”

Type those words into the department’s own website. Nothing. Search the last annual report. Still “Treaty Relationships.” Scoop, Beehive, Cabinet papers in the public domain: blank.

Roger Partridge: Your Business, Their Election Promise

The 2026 election campaign has not got off to a good start for business – or for the country. National, Labour, the Greens and New Zealand First have each made dangerous promises to intervene in private commercial arrangements. The tally so far includes supermarket ownership, retirement village contracts, commercial leases and the price of food.

None of these interventions rests on a finding that anyone has broken the law. No court judgment, no Commerce Commission determination, nothing.

That matters. Businesses invest when they can rely on owning what they build. Firms sign contracts when they can rely on the terms being honoured. Disregard either and the effect on the economy is chilling.

Geoff Parker: Wangarei, Wangaree Or Whangarei?

Who decided that the old spelling was wrong?

There is a fascinating question hiding in plain sight in the name of one of Northland's best-known cities:

When did Wangarei become Whangarei — and why?

The answer to the first question is reasonably clear.

The answer to the second is less straightforward.

Kerre Woodham: Time is running out for businesses that run on gas

Time is running out for the businesses that generate billions of dollars worth of GDP and that employ a quarter of a million New Zealanders.

They're the businesses that run on gas. Your bakers, your coffee roasters, your wineries, your wood processors, your ag sec. And that's not counting the schools and hospitals dependent on gas to heat their buildings.

Time is running out because the gas they operate on is running out. It's a finite resource. And as yet, they haven't found anything to replace it.

David Farrar: Super may consume 30% of the tax take!

The Post reports:

A new paper examining the future of New Zealand Superannuation has found that, if left unchanged, the scheme could consume more than 30% of the Government’s tax revenue every year by 2065 and will be unsustainable in its current form.

The paper, published in the International Review of Public Administration in late August, was authored by outgoing National Party MP Andrew Bayly, his former adviser Leonard Hong, and Emmanuel Jo from the University of Auckland’s School of Medicine.

We must make it more sustainable.

Tim Donner: The Golden Age of Trump - The Future

From the moment Donald Trump made his grand entrance onto the political stage, one of the primary lines of attack against the bombastic outsider, among countless others, is that he “is only out for himself.” In fact, that was a core message of Democrats across the land and prominent commercials for both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that aired thousands of times during the 2024 presidential campaign. Biden/Harris care about the working man and woman, while Trump only seeks his own glory. It was a bookend narrative to Trump’s famously successful ad tying Harris to a purple-haired freak depicted as they/them, while Trump is for you.

Friday September 25, 2026 

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Rodney Hide: One job ad

The Department of Conservation is hiring a Principal Iwi Strategy and Partnerships Advisor.

https://nz.seek.com/job/94787886?type=standard&ref=search-standalone#sol=5dd0cb1365ceb02fd37ba1f0b885ce8dc67fed3c

Wellington. Permanent. $110,033 to $145,000.

The ad does not whisper. It shouts.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Let's hope the Government hasn't lost its nerve on amalgamations

It has been revealed the Government has pumped the brakes on the council reform it was rushing to get done. I think the councils and mayors who are angry about this have every reason to be really, really cross.

Dion Swiggs of ECan says he's 'disgusted'. Timaru's mayor says this is 'disappointing'. Mackenzie District's mayor says he's 'utterly disappointed'. Porirua's mayor says she's 'fuming' and has called the Government 'cowards'.

Ryan Bridge: Looks like the LNG deal's dead in the water, for now

Energy is everything, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

The LNG terminal is on ice 'till after the election. Shane Jones told Ryan Bridge Today as much last week.

The Taranaki project hasn't been green lit by Cabinet and there's no way it will be pre-election. There's also no way a contract of that sort would be signed by what is basically a caretaker government.

Guest Post: An open letter to Prime Minister Luxon

Guest Post on No Minister by Hugh Perrett

Rt Hon Prime Minister Luxon,

Retailer-owned Co-operatives ( such as Foodstuffs ) with the ‘owner-operator members’ stores trading in ‘Groups’ under brand/banner names owned by the Co-operative (in Foodstuffs case New World , Pak’NSave and Four Square) are COMMON THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. In Foodstuffs case they also have ‘non-advertising’ members who trade independently outside of the Group banner system.

John McLean: The Do-Nothing Nats

How do we not love them? Let us count three ways…

At core, New Zealand Governments should be about orchestrating Parliament to pass new legislation.

Heated debates, hot air and empty promises change nothing. Enacted legislation is the only way Parliament can change New Zealand’s legal landscape. Enactments can comprise entirely new Acts of Parliament, or repeal or amend existing legislation.

Colinxy: How DEI Became the West’s New State Ideology

The Soviet playbook didn’t disappear — it migrated

Modern DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) is marketed as a moral breakthrough, a humane framework for justice, representation, and social harmony. But strip away the branding, and you find something older, darker, and unmistakably familiar.

DEI is not a new ideology. DEI is the Soviet nationalities policy reborn: Raznoobrazsiya and Korenizatsiia with corporate logos and HR departments.

The West did not invent DEI. It inherited it.

Yvonne Van Dongen: Butter Chicken Tsunami

Flood a nation with different cultures at warp speed and watch what happens

Twelve years ago I had an Indian flatmate on contract to an IT company. He’d already worked in the United Kingdom and the United States and found New Zealand to be the most welcoming country he had lived in. I doubt he would say that now.

Now we have reports of anti-Indian racist grafitti outside an Auckland primary school where over 60 percent of the pupils are Indian, police data shows South Asians are the group most experiencing racial abuse and, on rare occasions, this abuse has led to violence.

What’s changed?

David Farrar: Prebble and ChatGPT score the last two Governments

Richard Prebble asked ChatGPT to score the last two Governments on how they had performed in key areas. The summary is:

David Farrar: The Hager story implodes even more

I wasn’t going to blog again on the Hager book as it was already clear he had so many things absolutely wrong. But three more things today are too noteworthy to pass by.

Richard Prebble: Nicky Hager’s new book reminds me of my shameful mistake

Whenever Hager publishes one of his hit jobs it reminds me that I once was a target. The memory makes me burn with shame.

Hager wrote that Roger Douglas and I were part of conspiracy to appoint Don Brash, Governor of the Reserve Bank.

Mike's Minute: The BSA legislation should have been delivered sooner

If I was generous, I would let him off, given he has got more portfolios than anyone.

But Paul Goldsmith has delivered to Parliament the bit of legislation that will finally finish off the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

He did it with a flourish of slightly embarrassing bonhomie.

Thursday September 24, 2026 

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NZCPR Newsletter: Strategic Voting to Win

In the lead up to the 1984 election, Bob Jones’s New Zealand Party stormed onto the political scene, winning one vote in eight, but gaining no seats in Parliament.

As a result, 256,000 votes were wasted. Our First Past the Post voting system left a quarter of a million voters completely unrepresented.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: You can't read Nicky Hager's new book without being struck by bias

I can't decide whether Nicky Hager is naïve or sheltered. Surely it must have been obvious to him while writing this book that the very thing he's accusing Jordan Williams and the Taxpayers' Union of doing is exactly what he is doing himself: acting as a proxy to help political parties.

Geoff Parker: One Law For All Does Not Ignore History — It Recognises Who Makes The Law

Deborah Coddington (NZ Herald 23/9/26) is right about one thing: New Zealand's common law has developed through judicial decisions for centuries. But that historical fact does not answer the constitutional question ACT's “One Law for All” policy is addressing.

Her Donoghue v Stevenson example illustrates the point. The courts developed the modern law of negligence because Parliament had not comprehensively legislated in that field. But that does not mean judges possess an unlimited licence to create new legal duties whenever they consider them desirable.[1]

There is a crucial distinction between developing established common-law principles and creating new obligations in areas where Parliament has legislated — or deliberately chosen not to legislate.

JC: They Are a Sorry Lot

I’m referring to the excessive number of overpaid and mostly not very bright MPs that we vote for every three years to supposedly, in Donald Trump’s language, “Make New Zealand Great Again”. If you used the word Aotearoa, which would be a total misnomer, we could create our own MAGA movement in this country. I think we need to but first you’ve got to find the person fit for the job to lead it. That leader is not currently in any party today. There are a few MPs who are trying to make a difference but, on the whole and most notably on the left, they are a sorry lot.

Bruce Cotterill: Election 2026 - New Zealand needs better spending, not big taxes

I’m sick of our politics.

Like many people, I’m deeply interested in it. But if you have even an average level of aspiration for what this country could be, you’d be right to be frustrated by the current campaign.

The politicking. The half-truths. The mistruths. The mealy mouthed words and phrases designed to mean one thing or something else. Members of a party making a comment, only for another member of the same party to say something different.

Peter Williams: What’s so wrong with Taxpayers Union?

The Taxpayers Union (TPU) always struck me as very good idea. After all, what’s not to like about a lobby group that calls out wasteful government spending and develops policy ideas about how to more efficiently allocate the money a government receives from taxpayers.

Calling itself a “union” was deliberately provocative, a piss-take if you like of the political left’s love affairs with trade unions. To this day there still some disaffected types who say that the TPU is not a real union because it’s not a trade union - as if trade unions were only types of unions.

As any half literate person will understand, a union is merely a grouping of two or more individuals for a common purpose. The etymology says it all. Many into one. A marriage is a union. Sports clubs are sometimes called unions. The lefty argument can easily be debunked.

David Farrar: Hager’s work of fiction

Nicky’s Hager’s last book had an enquiry led by a former Supreme Court Judge, and a former Attorney General and Prime Minister. They concluded that the “principal allegations” in Hager’s book “are not accurate”.

This book is even worse. I could spend most of the week detailing the untruths in it, but frankly there is no need. Just take a few.

David Farrar: Questions media didn’t ask

Radio NZ reports:

A new rangatahi-led campaign is calling on young people to help deliver the biggest youth-voter turnout in Aotearoa’s history.

‘Roll With Us’ has launched on Sunday as part of ‘On A Roll’, a kaupapa aimed at getting more young people enrolled and voting in this year’s general election.

Whenever I read about a new campaign, I get inquisitive. I check out their website. Who is involved. Who funds them etc.

Lindsay Mitchell: A clash of rights and what follows

New Zealand is fast-approaching the mid-point of its annual whitebait season.

The Department of Conservation describes whitebait as a "precious taonga":

"Four of the six New Zealand whitebait species are classified as at risk or threatened. Whitebait fishing regulations were revised in 2021 to improve the sustainability of the species. "

Rodney Hide: When the columnist swears

Stuff has tried everything to rouse a falling readership.

Quizzes. Live blogs. Explainers. Podcasts. Vertical video. Then they let the kids take over the keyboard and reach for sweary words.

First it was Andrea Vance with the c-word — aimed at female ministers, carefully reviewed by experienced editors, of course. Now it is Verity Johnson, already exhausted by an election that hasn’t started, taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Mike's Minute: The most important thing the Govt has done this term

For all the opprobrium heaped on the National Party for their supermarket call, the old National was out yesterday finalising the India free trade deal.

Of all the things this Government has done in its first term, the FTA with India may well be the most important.

It will last forever, it will grow, and it will become an increasingly important part of our economic story.

Wednesday September 23, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Did we witness Winston Peters' last speech as Foreign Minister?

Now, I think we may have just witnessed Winston Peters’ last major foreign policy speech as Foreign Minister, ever.

It is definitely the last one before the election, and if you follow the breadcrumbs he has been laying recently, it sounds like he does not want to be Foreign Minister next term.

Ryan Bridge: It's obvious National and Labour are fighting for centre votes

Labour has finally seen the light on interest deductibility.

That's where a landlord, like any other legitimate business in New Zealand, is able to deduct the expense of its capital borrowing, i.e. a mortgage, against taxable income.

After expenses, what's left over is taxed.

Colinxy: What Is a “Right”?

Why the Modern Left Keeps Getting This Wrong

"A real Right protects you from the State. A fake Right requires the State to force someone else to serve you.

One of the most persistent confusions in modern politics, and one of the most destructive, is the idea that anything desirable can be rebranded as a “Right.” Healthcare, food, accommodation, internet access, “dignity,” “safety,” and whatever else is fashionable this week. If it is nice to have, the Left insists it must therefore be a Right.

Pee Kay: National… the “Party of Business”

Chris Luxon and Nicola Willis seem to have got their hands on a gun and have been happily shooting themselves in the foot!

The National Party’s latest election pitch, a drastic proposal to forcibly sever Pak’nSave from New World smacks of political desperation rather than sound economic strategy. Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis have championed a policy that raises far more troubling questions than it answers.

Kerre Woodham: The back and forth over education is doing our kids a disservice

Education. I simply do not understand, and I really do want to, how two sides can be so passionate about education and about the curriculum and what is truly important in a classroom and have two sides who want the very, very best for our children and yet be so diametrically opposed.

It's a conundrum.

Bob Edlin: New Plymouth’s Treaty lesson.....

....councils rushing restructuring plans mustn’t forget their consultation commitments

New Plymouth District Council staff have been being chided by councillors for not talking with mana whenua before taking a council reform proposal to Government. Their failure to comply with the consultation demands of the Treaty of Waitangi – inevitably – came into considerations.

How many councillors were dissatisfied with the staff is not clear. The council has a mayor and 14 councillors.

David Farrar: Labour sees sense

1 News reports:

Labour will make no changes to interest deductibility rules for residential landlords if elected, as party leader Chris Hipkins confirms he wouldn’t revisit the settings.

This is some rare common sense for Labour. They called it a tax break for landlords, when it was no such thing.

David Farrar: Heard that before

The Post reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is not aiming to make state spending and taxation 33% of the economy, despite his party’s fiscal strategy suggesting it would eventually get there. …

National has attacked the 33% figure, arguing it shows that Labour will need to enact more than just the CGT, which is only expected to raise $1.5 billion within the forecast period ‒ which would not get anywhere close to raising revenue to 33%.

Dr Don Brash: Yet another reason the Waitangi Tribunal must go

Just when you think the Waitangi Tribunal has reached the absolute outer limit of its overreach, it manages to outdo itself.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Tribunal has – as pretty much always - found the Crown in breach of the Treaty.

The latest is that the Tribunal has now issued a finding claiming that the Coalition Government’s draft school curriculum rewrite breaches the Treaty of Waitangi. Their complaint is that an emphasis on a knowledge-rich curriculum—one structured around fundamental skills like reading, writing, science, and mathematics—is somehow an ideological violation of Treaty principles.

Rodney Hide: Greengrocer Czars

Everything government monopolises, it botches.

Roads: potholes and gridlock. Schools: a decade of the kids’ lives and too many still can’t read or write. Hospitals: you wait, and sometimes you die waiting. Welfare: we pay people — crooks included — not to work. The state’s core jobs are a mess. Always another review. Always another failure.

Now walk into a supermarket.

Tuesday September 22, 2026 

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Dame Elizabeth Rata: Episode 3 - A National Education System - Free, Compulsory, Secular

In the video below Episode 3 describes the free and compulsory features of the national system established by the 1877 Education Act. Achieving the difficult balance between state control and individual freedom is the ongoing creative tension of liberal democracy. This episode shows it in action. A distinctive New Zealand culture is emerging – one free from the constraints of tradition seeking to balance idealism and pragmatism. This striving for civil society's balance can be seen in the Act's attendance regulations.

JC: Ideas That Test My Strength

I’m talking about the latest collection of bird-brained ideas concerning supermarkets jumping out at us from political parties prior to the election. We are all only too well aware that the cost of living is the number one election issue. However, the ideas for solving the problem and help lower grocery prices speak more of desperation than reality. I realise there are people in voter land that could be sucked in with the rhetoric on display. But honestly, listening to what the politicians have on offer to solve the problem reveals they’re not very sharp either.

Geoff Parker: Who Decided New Zealand Needs A Democracy Overhaul?

Roy Murphy’s article, Overhauling Democracy, reports on a recent ‘Re:Shape’ “unconference” at Victoria University, where participants discussed whether New Zealand’s democratic system needs fundamental change.

There is nothing wrong with asking whether democracy can be improved. Better public participation, longer-term thinking and greater accountability are legitimate subjects for debate.

But there is a much bigger question that deserves to be asked:

Mike's Minute: Are politicians trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist?

Oh the irony.

In the same week we got all that hot air about supermarkets and co-operative bust-ups, we got the food price index out of the stats department.

And as much as you may like to deny it, argue about it, or ignore it, these are statistics. They are not reckons, or supermarket isle chatter, or lazy street-side vox pops for the TV.

Ryan Bridge: Why is the state parenting our kids?

There's a thing happening with parents, responsibility and the state.

Kids are either misbehaving or not learning, parents are putting their hands up, and the state is having to regulate, what kids can and can't do.

I was watching the news last night and a researcher was telling the story of an early childhood teacher.

Pee Kay: The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree

This old adage most certainly applies when discussing Maori activist “usual suspects” and Maori politics.

The apple not falling far from the tree is more than just a comment on individual personalities. It is a lens through which we observe the construction of a power base, the propagation of ideology culminating in the transfer of power. It can also be said that traits, be they a drive for self-sufficiency, for power and wealth or a penchant for controversy, they are inherited as surely as DNA is inherited.