Breaking Views Update: Week of 23.8.26

Thursday August 27, 2026 

News:
Upper Hutt Weighs Māori Wards For Next Two Local Elections
Upper Hutt's council is revisiting Māori wards for the 2028 and 2031 elections while its own future remains up in the air.

Mike's Minute: Rate caps – not a moment too soon

So the Government has moved on rates.

The cap is 4%, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Of all the price pressures that are out of control, rates would have to be the worst.

Kelli Ballard: New Poll Shows Shocking Result - People Like China More Than the US

Some may find it hard to believe, but according to a new Pew Research poll, China is seen more favorably than America. Of course, there’s a good deal of politics at play, but there may also be more behind the scenes – the power of Hollywood.

America vs China

The July survey consisted of more than 42,000 people in 36 countries, and for the first time in 20 years since Pew started polling this topic, China came out on top. The US is viewed more positively than China in only six countries: India, Israel, Japan, Philippines, Poland, and South Korea. Even America’s closest neighbors, Mexico and Canada, favor China.

Bob Edlin: After ruling out new taxes, the Nats say voters’ choice is simple....

....but there’s support, too, for more spending on state services

Google threw the Facebook messaging of National MP Matt Doocey into considerations when PoO asked Google for a steer on political polls and public support for parties which have ruled out tax increases.

Doocey was crowing:

Ryan Bridge: Parliament's backlog is becoming a problem

This past week is proof a four-year Parliamentary term is probably a good idea.

Elections disrupt the housing market. People get scared off buying for fear of the unknown. Who knows what government will get in and what they'll do to price of a house.

Rodney Hide: National's Online Safety Bill is a Trojan Horse

In 1990 I travelled the country warning landowners about the Resource Management Bill. It was sold as a simpler, more permissive system. Farmers welcomed it. The old regime of overlapping statutes would be replaced by a single, principles-based framework that would make life easier.

One night, in frustration, I told a meeting that the bill would eventually mean the government dictating the colour of your woolshed and requiring you to pay local Māori for the spirits to go away. The room went quiet. I left thinking I had overreached. The farmers clearly thought I was unhinged. None of us imagined those specific outcomes would arrive.

JC: ACT Is in Tune With the Right

The release of party policy by David Seymour at the weekend showed ACT completely understands the wants, needs and desires of those on the right of politics. Not only was the policy itself impressive but David was too. Of all the party leaders, David is the best at enunciating clearly what the purpose of the policy is and why it is needed. There is no ambiguity about where the party stands on any given issue. Clear direction and choice is given to voters, especially those who might be still undecided when it comes to casting their vote.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Tories launch firm power plans

UK

Tories back plan to prioritise firm power

The Conservatives have said that households could save about £540 a year after 2030 if net zero regulations are scrapped with a commitment to make energy as cheap as possible. A report published by centre-right think tank Onward and backed by the Tories said the cost of net zero came to an extra £540 per household a year between 2030 and 2050.

Geoff Parker: Were Māori A Sovereign Nation Before The Treaty?

The claim that Māori had already established a sovereign nation before the Treaty of Waitangi sounds straightforward enough. But the answer depends on what is meant by “sovereign” and “nation” and, most importantly, whether Māori — the people with whom the Treaty was signed — were politically united under any common authority.

There is no doubt that Māori exercised authority before 1840. Chiefs, hapū and iwi controlled their own people and territories, and the British Government recognised that reality.

Dr Eric Crampton: An economics without trade-offs

One reasonable definition of economics is the study of choice under conditions of scarcity, or choice under constraint.

When getting more of one good thing requires forgoing some other good thing, what do people do? How do they decide?

Ganesh Ahirao (was Ganesh Nana; last name changed - I think because a historic error in NZ systems was finally more recently corrected) proposes an Economic Governance Act to replace core parts of the Public Finance Act.

Jack Tame asked how part of that would work. If the Minister of Finance were deciding how to spend the last billion dollars of available funding and were choosing between a hospital infrastructure project and a wetland restoration project, how would the Act guide that choice?

Mike's Minute: The social media ban is a line in the sand

So we join the growing world chorus against social media/big tech and its pervasive algorithms and means of getting the young hooked.

It was an impressive launch of the social media regulation; an audience, good speakers, impassioned politicians, and a particularly effective video featuring Erica Stanford and a group of teenagers who outlined their personal experience and concerns about social media and, with the exception of one, who said they would not let their siblings near it if they had a choice.

Wednesday August 26, 2026 

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Kineta Knight: Government moves to cap council rate rises at 4 per cent

Council rate increases will be capped at 4 per cent under proposed legislation aimed at easing financial pressure on households and businesses.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts said councils would initially be required to keep annual rate increases within a target range of 2 to 4 per cent.

John Hyndman: A Different Democracy - a Proposal for New Zealand

In 1852 the British Parliament passed the New Zealand Constitution Act, which created New Zealand's first Parliament. It established a system of representative government based on the British parliamentary tradition, which subsequently developed into our Westminster system of Government and Opposition.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's why I'm more optimistic about the social media ban

I think I'm probably more optimistic about the social media ban than most people. I do accept that the thing is not going to work, according to the accepted definition of what it means to work, but I think it will work for enough people for it to, in my mind, work - if you follow what I'm saying.

Ryan Bridge: Labour's fallen for Nicola's election trap

Labour's fallen into a cunning wee trap set by Nicola Willis a few weeks ago.

She laid the bait —releasing 'fiscal rules' her party would abide by if re-elected— and challenged Labour to do the same.

On the weekend, they took the bait and released their own 'fiscal strategy'. Which is different form their 'fiscal plan' – more on that in a second.

Ani O'Brien: National is right about social media, but its ban is still a bad idea

A quick response to National’s announcement of legislation to ban u16 social media

I have written about social media and children a few times now, but because National has finally announced actual legislation, it seems worth covering once more. I am not opposed to restricting children’s access to social media. I think the evidence of harm is sufficiently serious that governments are justified in acting, and I have little patience left for people who dismiss the whole thing as another moral panic about whatever technology the youth are using this decade.

Colinxy: Labour’s 2026 Policy - Powered by Unicorn Farts

The Fiscal Strategy That Isn’t a Strategy

Every election cycle produces its share of political fantasy, but Labour’s 2026 offering is something else entirely: a fiscal plan seemingly powered not by numbers, economics, or reality, but by the gaseous emissions of mythical creatures. According to Labour’s own documents, they’ve conceded their policies require $12 billion more in spending, while their so‑called Simple Capital Gains Tax, a rebrand of taxing inflation, is so transparent it’s almost endearing, will raise barely a tenth of that.

Geoff Parker: Carwyn Jones misses the point - David Seymour is right

Who Makes New Zealand’s Laws — Parliament Or The Courts?

Carwyn Jones says ACT's new “One Law for All. One Future Together” policy appears to be an attempt to “re-litigate” the failed Treaty Principles Bill.

But that criticism misses the central point of David Seymour's proposal.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: If I were PM - Fix the machine before the policies

On my first morning as Prime Minister, I would deliver a speech. It would contain no slogans or platitudes about becoming the best country in the world. Instead, it would be a stocktake, and it would not be a pleasant one.

I would tell New Zealanders what they already sense: the country has been slipping down the income rankings of the developed world for decades. The government’s books have been in deficit for years, and an ageing population will make both problems worse.

Peter Williams: Trouble on tour

How New Zealand tourists can fall victim to crime

Too much of the talk at breakfast in Johannesburg this morning was not about the All Blacks wonderful victory against the Springboks but about how members of our tour group are having their phones stolen, victims of this city’s outrageous pickpockets.

I saw one instance happen right before me without really knowing it was happening. We were standing on a footpath outside Ellis Park waiting for our bus and bathing in the reflected joy of the All Blacks win.

Kerre Woodham: We finally have tax promises from both major parties

Yep, it was all about taxes over the weekend. Labour pinned its colours to the mast over the weekend and wants to tax more to spend more. Taxman from the Beatles was written by George Harrison in 1966 when Harold Wilson came to power in Britain.

He imposed a super tax of 95% on the extremely wealthy, of which the Beatles were on paper, but their accountants warned them they were about to become bankrupt. 95% tax. Labour does not want that in 2026 in New Zealand, but they do want to tax more to spend more.

Philip Crump: Covid - Off-Label

Medsafe approved Pfizer’s booster at six months. New Zealand moved to five, then to four, and finally, three. The more interesting story is how the law changed to allow it.

The Government has now responded to Phase Two of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19, released in March. It will not proceed with standalone pandemic legislation, preferring a review of the Health Act to balance public health, the economy and the rights of New Zealanders.

Before designing the next framework, it’s worth considering how some aspects of the last one worked. Notably, the story of the booster interval shows how quickly a medical decision can become a programme decision.

David Farrar: TOP says do what I say, not what I do

The Opportunistic Party has said their policy is to restrict donations to a political party over an electoral cycle to $30,000.

So far this years they have banked the following donations:

Tuesday August 25, 2026 

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Electoral Commission Requiring Staff To Learn The Treaty Of Waitangi

Dr Muriel Newman and Sean Plunket discuss the Electoral Commission requiring staff to learn the Treaty of Waitangi on The Platform

Click to view

Caleb Anderson: The NZ First Conundrum - and its potential undoing

Last week Shane Jones issued a warning to the Waitangi Tribunal indicating, basically, that NZ First expects them to stay in their lane.

There was something odd about this media release, both in respect of content, and in respect of timing.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: How disappointing is ACT's Constitution Act proposal?

Okay, if you voted in the last election to see a tidy-up of the creep of Treaty principles throughout our statute books, you should be very disappointed by what ACT did when it basically walked away from Treaty principles altogether.

ACT announced it's going to change the Constitution Act instead of trying to pass the Treaty Principles Bill again.

Mike's Minute: The only thing deciding this election is the economy

Right, a poll the Government should be worried about - whose fault is the economy?

The importance of this is based on the simple premise that this election is about one thing, which is the state of the place.

Is it getting better, or not?

Do you see a brighter future, or not?

Ashley Church: Could TOPs “free money” policy really work?

And is it really 'evidence based'?

In 2004, John Key described Labour’s newly announced Working for Families programme as “communism by stealth.”

For younger readers, Working for Families was a major expansion of financial assistance to families introduced by Helen Clark’s Labour Government in the 2004 Budget. It increased family income assistance, added a new payment for working parents and expanded help with childcare and housing. By the time it was fully implemented, Labour expected the package to cost an additional $1.1 billion every year, with nearly 300,000 households receiving direct assistance.

Pee Kay: Soviet Style at your Checkout!

The Reality Behind the Greens’ $10 Million Supermarket Fines

Paul McCartney wrote about it; the Beatles sang about it –

“I’m back in the USSR

You don’t know how lucky you are, boy

Back in the USSR”

Now welcome to Chloe and Marama’s nostalgic trip back to the USSR, where basic economics are replaced by socialist bureaucracy!

Tony Orman: A Major Election Issue Should be the Death of Democracy

The forgotten Number One issue this Election is the Demise of Democracy.

It doesn’t matter what the issue is because it’s with every issue.

Even the new whiz kid of technology AI is worried.

JC: Media Love Snakes and Ladders

There are two reasons for buying the Weekend Herald. Both reasons sit in the Business Section and feature two contributors: Bruce Cotterill and Fran O’Sullivan. Their articles are always timely and many are related to politics. Fran’s articles are often more specific, while Bruce paints pictures with a broader brush. Both articles over two weekends were of the National Party debacle.

I first want to talk about the media, because it was Bruce’s article that gave me the idea for my headline, as it occurred to me that virtually none of the achievements he talks about are mentioned in the media. I am aware most prefer not to watch the six o’clock news and their reasons for not tuning in are pretty obvious, including having no interest in left-wing politics.

John MacDonald: Grass verges have had their day

Grass verges have had their day.

These are the areas of grass you see on streets, between the road and the footpath, where people sometimes park their cars.

I’ll tell you why I think they should go. But first, let me tell you about some residents in the Christchurch suburb of Somerfield who aren’t happy about the city council putting in a heap of red and white markers to stop people parking on the verge.

Simon O'Connor: Reflections from the ED

A recent trip to the emergency department, and a longer stay in hospital, had me thinking about the current debate around cultural competency and indigenous knowledge.

I recently had an unexpected visit to Auckland’s emergency department, followed by a longer stay in hospital. It seems I may have brought back more than memories from a recent overseas trip.

Before anyone panics, I should immediately add that I’m now fully recovered and pose no risk to anyone. If that weren’t the case, I’d probably still be locked away in the isolation room where my hospital journey began.

Guest Post: If you rent your property short-term, tell the council and pay your rates

A guest post on Kiwiblog by James Doolan

If you own a second property, rent it regularly through Airbnb and have not told your council about the commercial use, this opinion piece is directed at you.

You may regard the omission as harmless or perhaps you’ve realised that the chances of being identified are low. Deliberately withholding information that affects your rates liability is not clever tax planning. It’s gaming the system and leaving other ratepayers to pay more. Kiwiblog readers are usually quick to condemn exactly this behaviour when it occurs in other contexts, particularly when there’s failure to disclose changes in circumstances affecting benefit entitlements.

Monday August 24, 2026 

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Wendy Geus: Biased media deflects to US whilst ignoring NZ's divisive race issue

Misogynistic fixation on Trump Aide highlights NZ's biased media's agenda - deflection to US domestic politics whilst ignoring NZ's divisive race issue

CNN's decision to go after Trump's executive assistant, Natalie Harp, who travelled with him in a decoy plane to avoid an assassination attempt, with sleazy overtones, was quickly picked up by their little cousins in NZ who will loyally print anything to tarnish Trump. They don't do investigative journalism when Trump, or New Zealand's political right, is involved.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Mount Maunganui landslide report couldn't be more damning

I'm astonished, can I say, that Marty Grenfell, the boss of Tauranga City Council, thinks no one has to quit over the landslide and the damning report. And frankly, that there are not outright calls for him to quit from the mayor and the local MP.

That report, I don't know if it could have been more damning, because it told us Tauranga City Council was warned multiple times that a landslide might happen in exactly the spot where a landslide happened, as early as 1999 and as most recently as only six or seven months before the landslide.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: When is equal unfair and when is it fair?

For many today, inequality is a dragon that public policy must slay. The accusing fingers usually point at unequal outcomes for selected things, such as income and diversity representation. But unequal outcomes in other dimensions may be celebrated; women dominate as primary school teachers, for instance.

So, when is equal unfair, and when is it fair?

Geoff Parker: Alternative Facts And New Zealand's Selective History

There is something deeply ironic about accusations that the Coalition Government wants to teach New Zealand children “alternative facts” while some of those making the accusation present an extraordinarily selective version of our history.

The latest example in a letter to the Editor of the Waikato Times 22/8/26  is the claim that Māori had already established a sovereign nation before the Treaty of Waitangi and that British involvement simply destroyed an existing system of independent government.

The historical record is considerably more complicated.

Reynold Macpherson: Rotorua's Head Start Process Has Failed - The Minister Must Take Control

Rotorua Lakes Council’s handling of the Government’s Head Start reform process has a legitimacy problem that cannot be dismissed as the unavoidable consequence of a compressed timetable.

The deeper problem is that there was enough time for some people to be involved upstream.

Judy Gill: Sacred, Tapu, Tūpuna and Floating Ghosts - When Constant Demands for Respect Produce the Opposite

INTRODUCTION

New Zealanders are repeatedly told that Māori spiritual beliefs, practices and traditions must be respected.

But when religion and superstition are presented as “knowledge”, and criticism of spiritual claims is treated as disrespect, constant demands for respect can eventually produce the opposite.

Dr Eric Crampton: The sticker sticklers that can drive me to drink

The back of the bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label that I keep at the office has two labels.

The first company-branded label appears to be designed for international markets that use the metric system.

Roger Partridge: The two-thirds we never built

The Financial Markets Authority is having a bad year. Its chair resigned in May. Its chief executive has been suspended. And the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is investigating its culture.

Some will see this as a failure of the FMA’s board model. It is better seen as a reminder that New Zealand only ever built one part of the system needed to govern regulators well.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Tactical voting could sink MMP

At its campaign launch in Gisborne on Sunday, Te Pāti Māori asked its supporters for something no party had requested so openly before: candidate votes for the party, party votes for its allies on the left.

The request rests on MMP’s overhang rule. A party that wins more electorates than its party vote covers keeps them all, and Parliament grows.

Nick Clark: Teasing of textile material for any purpose

Imagine you run a business as a “dag crusher”. For those unfamiliar with the term, a “dag” is a dirty bit of wool attached to a sheep’s rear end.

Every year you must fill out a form and pay your local council for the privilege of being allowed to continue to crush dags.

The Health Act 1956 lists nineteen jobs it calls “offensive trades”. Offensive in this case does not mean rude or obscene – it means highly unpleasant or, more colloquially, “gross”.

Bob Edlin: How Simeon Brown stonewalled Parliamentary questions about nurse numbers....

....and triumphed in not saying “54

The “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams was “42”. It was calculated by a supercomputer named Deep Thought over 7.5 million years.

The answer to a question in Parliament this week was “54”. But it looked like we might have to wait 7.5 million years before Health Minister Simeon Brown would let that number trip from his tongue.

The question was raised by Labour’s Ayesha Verrall, who asked Brown:

David Farrar: Welcome to the dark side, Kiri

Radio NZ reports:

Former Labour cabinet minister Kiri Allan has come out swinging against the public service saying it is bloated, slow, and overpaid. …

Allan said there were “exceptional people” throughout the public service and her comments weren’t an attack on individuals, but on the system.

Sunday August 23, 2026 

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Spaniard: Schrödinger’s Citizen

Enabling some New Zealanders to be citizens of both a democracy under the Crown and a pre-feudal grouping alongside the Crown is as ludicrous and dangerous as it sounds.

In a famous 1935 thought experiment, Austrian-Irish theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger hypothesised a cat simultaneously dead and alive. Schrödinger’s Cat exposed fancifulness of a then-idea in quantum mechanics: that things can exist in more than one state.

That imaginary scenario showing a scientific caprice’s absurdity was well and good; it made a point, cost little, and no felines were harmed.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 22 August 2026

Election 2026: Everybody has discovered the MMP cheat codes

Te Pāti Māori has formally announced that it wants the electorate vote in the Māori seats, but supporters can give their party vote to Labour or the Greens. If Te Pāti Māori wins more electorate seats than its tiny party vote would entitle it to, those electorate MPs become overhang seats. Parliament gets bigger and, depending on the final numbers, the left bloc potentially gets a small mathematical advantage.

Geoff Parker: Equality Is Not Racism, and Disagreement Is Not an Attack on Democracy

Metiria Turei's paywalled column in the Otago Daily Times 21/8/26, Hypocrisy and racism abounds in Parliament, is a familiar exercise in political inversion.

According to Turei, opposition to Māori electorates, criticism of Māori-specific policies, and attempts to restore the same democratic rules for all New Zealanders are evidence of hypocrisy, racism and an assault on constitutional democracy.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Nothing gets done in NZ’s coalitions of the unwilling

When New Zealanders go to the polls on 7 November, they will be spoilt for choice. In the main, there are two larger (Labour and National) and five smaller parties (ACT, Greens, NZ First, Opportunity, Te Pāti Māori). Each has its own ideas about a cure for the country’s finances, its hospitals, power supply, education system and so on.

Colinxy: The Oppressed vs Oppressor Mind Trick

A Companion Piece to “Fast and Slow Thinking: What Kahneman Actually Revealed”

This essay follows naturally from my earlier piece on Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow. If Kahneman exposed the machinery of our cognitive shortcuts, then Joshua Greene’s Moral Tribes explains how those shortcuts become tribal weapons — especially when fused with Marx’s Oppressed vs Oppressor narrative.