Ryan Bridge: The AI takeover isn't coming, it's here

The AI and robot takeover isn't coming, it's here. Well, sort of.

A bunch of data's come out on this over the past few days.

Seek says job ads mentioning AI have doubled in the past year, up 4.1% from March to April.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: AI is just a distraction in the public service discussion

I’ve got to tell you something – I’m embarrassed.

Watching this public debate about how many public servant jobs are going to be cut in order to make way for AI is just embarrassing.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 17.5.26

Friday May 22, 2026 

News:
National targets Māori seats Tāmaki Makaurau, Te Tai Hauāuru
National has confirmed its intention to run in some Māori electorates at this year’s elections, with Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Hauāuru firmly in its sights. The strategy signals a continuation of their 2023 campaign, where the party broke a 20-year hiatus by standing Hinurewa Te Hau and Harete Hipango in those same seats.

Lindsay Mitchell: Is Whanau Ora lifting student attendance?

I was asked the following question via Family First: "How is the Whānau Ora network developing and what are its prospects. In particular, is it helping school attendance effectively for Maori and Pacific island pupils?"

Whānau Ora was introduced in 2010 resulting from the 2008 Confidence and Supply Agreement between the National Government and the Māori Party, the underlying principle being, it's not individuals who need access to services, but whānau. It is very much a 'by Maori, for Maori' approach.

Mike's Minute: So yes, Chris Hipkins does think you're stupid

I asked yesterday whether Chris Hipkins thought we were stupid.

And as luck would have it, he answered our question – yes, he does.

First you have the Future Fund, a cornerstone policy, revelation that they aren't telling us who's money goes in and what sort of job creation they are expecting because they got bogged down in the Treaty issues, so we will need to wait until after the election.

Elliot Ikilei: Is this a power company or a cultural ministry?

Have you seen this?

Meridian’s job advertisement [below] is seriously revealing, and not for the reasons the company probably intended.

DTNZ: Arctic sea ice levels remain significantly above 2012 record low

New figures on Arctic sea ice have reignited debate over climate projections after the 2025 summer minimum measured 4.6 million square kilometres — around 35 per cent higher than the record low of 3.4 million square kilometres recorded in 2012.

David Harvey: The Culture of Complaint

An Institutional Problem

I have a book on my shelf entitled “Culture of Complaint” by Robert Hughes. I purchased it in September 1993 shortly after it was published.

It was an interesting book because although it argued primarily about problems in the United States of America, the issues Hughes describes resonate today. The book was prescient in that respect.

Robert Hughes was an Australian-born art critic, writer and producer of television documentaries. He was art editor for Time magazine and is known to television audiences for his TV series on modern art entitled “The Shock of the New” which was brilliant.

Simon O'Connor: Be prepared

The fraying of the international rules-based order and various conflicts - either happening now or possible in the future - should see New Zealand preparing now. There are no excuses for inaction.

During a recent visit by the US President to Beijing, President Xi of China made it clear that Taiwan must become part of China. Xi has frequently talked of Taiwan as part of China, and that it will eventually be reunited including by military force if necessary.

Andrew Dickens: Is the Government counting its chickens before they hatch?

Let's start with the big story of the day: the Finance Minister yesterday unveiling a major plan to shrink the public service. It's putting thousands of jobs on the line, but it is booking, potentially, billion-dollar savings into this year's Budget. So the interesting thing about her announcement —there were precursors to this, so this is stuff we knew, but it's all brought it into focus— is the pure numbers that we're talking about.

Bob Edlin: What state services can learn from Fonterra......

What state services can learn from Fonterra: bigger isn’t always better and merging might not make us better off

Streamlining is one thing. Merging is another.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis drew attention to this when discussing the Government’s public-sector policy objectives yesterday:

David Farrar: Winding back Treaty references

Paul Goldsmith announced:

The Government has agreed to amend 19 pieces of legislation to ensure references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are clear and consistent, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says.

“Over the last 30 or 40 years, Parliament has made all sorts of references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Sometimes it’s ‘honour’, or ‘have regard to’, or ‘give effect to’, or ‘take into account’. We need to create some consistency here, in the interests of increasing certainty and supporting compliance. A core foundation of our success as a nation is predictability in the law. …

Thursday May 21, 2026 

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Parmjeet Parmar: No expiry date for serious crime

New Zealand’s promise to new arrivals is straightforward: contribute, obey our laws, and you can build a wonderful life here. But that promise carries an equally clear expectation – the privilege of residency cannot be abused. For those who are not citizens, this is a social contract, and it must be upheld.

Clive Bibby: A bubble that has burst - will politicians ever learn?

One of the hallmarks of the original “Welfare State” concept was its promise of State funded welfare that would meet the basic needs of every citizen irrespective of race, political affiliations or position on the social ladder. It would be available to all.

Ani O'Brien: The Public Service isn’t a six-figure welfare scheme

Some super quick thoughts on the public service reforms

The reaction to Nicola Willis’ pre-Budget speech today went full throttle before she had even delivered it. The proposals were not especially radical, but you would not know this if you interacted with any media today. It was astounding how quickly large sections of New Zealand’s political and media class moved to attack the measures intended to save money and make our government more efficient. The arguments for consolidating our public service and tightening our belts were shut down before they could even properly be debated.

JC: How to Win Big Revealed in Poll

Immediately after the Australian budget Roy Morgan ran a snap poll across 2,348 voters Australia-wide to see where the parties sat in terms of popularity. The poll revealed some staggering numbers. The reasons were listed in detail and many of them could apply equally to the political situation in this country. If National, in particular, want to win big they should take heed of the reasons given for the increased support shown for Pauline Hanson's nationalist party One Nation.

David Farrar: Labour to release key policy after the election!!!

The Herald reports:

Labour has admitted key details about its Future Fund, including the cost to the Crown and which state assets will be rolled into it, will not be released until after voters have gone to the polls.

On Tuesday, Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds admitted the party doesn’t itself know which public assets will go in the fund, and won’t know until it gets advice from officials after the election.

Richard Prebble: AI Could Make Big Government Even Bigger

On a flight to Wellington the passenger beside me introduced himself.

“I’m from IBM. We are developing for Railways a world-leading wages management system.”

All my alarm bells went off.

Mike's Minute: Labour's lack of detail show they've learned nothing

So let me get this right, just so we know where we’re at.

The Labour Party —who, I'm assuming, still want to be taken seriously this election— have had a major issue up to this point.

They have no policies.

Dr James Allan: No, Trump Hasn’t “Undermined the Rule of Law”

In two recent articles in the pages of Quadrant (March 2026 issue ‘The Temptations of Unfreedom Revisited’ and May 2026 issue ‘Nasty, Brutish and Short-Sighted’), Oliver Hartwich has spent considerable time attacking US President Donald Trump. In the first of these, Hartwich alleged that Trump has systematically violated the rule of law. And that he has undermined the institutional integrity of the courts, law enforcement and the civil service. And that he has weaponised the Justice Department against his political foes. The listed vices go on.

Bob Edlin: City councils: transparency about a suspension in Dunedin but mystery about a resignation in Wellington

RNZ left little room for wondering about Dunedin city councillor Benedict Wong’s suspension from all committees and subcommittees for nine months “because of concerns about his behaviour”.

Wong faced a code of conduct complaint after revealing details about a potential hotel development at Forsyth Barr Stadium to reporters in April.

David Farrar: Government to trim 8,700 public servants

Nicola Willis and Paul Goldsmith have announced the following:

• A target to return the ratio of public servants to the population of 1.0%, meaning a target of 55,000 by 2029

• A sinking lid on operating budgets for agencies that will save $2.4 billion with greater use of AI

• A reduction in the number of core department and ministries from 39 (Australia has 16)

Wednesday May 20, 2026 

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Ryan Bridge: The public service cuts didn't come out of nowhere

We got the inevitable Grinch headlines from the media yesterday, powered by union panic.

The public service knew this was coming. Or should have. Judith Collins, Nicola Willis and Sir Brian Roche have been talking about this since they all got into office.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Let's make a start on unwinding years of public sector bloat

As you’d expect, I’m a huge fan of Nicola Willis’ plan to cut down the size of the public sector.

This is the second issue I’ve been harping on about to her. The other one was, obviously, the fees-free year for university students. So I’m stoked that, on this show, we’re two from two in terms of agitating for cutting back on wasteful public spending.

Mike's Minute: Here's what the 2026 Election is about

I'm 100% convinced this election is about the economy.

Do people blame the Government in any way for the economic fallout from war?

Does the economic grind make you look to other political answers?

Graham Adams: Hipkins drags out Phoney War with Coalition

After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 there was an eight-month period in which there were a few brief skirmishes but very little significant fighting on land. The standoff in Western Europe was dubbed the “Phoney War”, the “Bore War”, and the “sitzkrieg” (“the sitting war” — in contrast to the blitzkrieg inflicted on Poland).

Military action was mainly carried out at sea until Hitler’s lightning invasion of Norway in April 1940 sparked serious hostilities.

Richard Prebble: At last, a serious speech from the Prime Minister

Christopher Luxon gave last week his most substantive speech as Prime Minister. Apparently, he wrote it himself.

Prime Ministers are usually too busy to write their own speeches. Their speeches are stitched together by advisers and shaped by polling and focus groups.

Luxon attempted something much harder. He set out a worldview and an agenda for the country.

John McLean: Parliament Passing Legislation Is.....Undemocratic!?

Whacky reactions to proposed legislation extinguishing crazy climate Court cases

On Tuesday 12 May, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced a legislative reform to stop New Zealand Courts forcing “greenhouse gas”-producing businesses to compensate New Zealanders for damage from bad weather. The yet-to-be-drafted legislation will amend New Zealand’s Climate Change Response Act 2002.

The legislation will have the particular effect of extinguishing current Court action by a race hustler with a boring name. I’ve covered Mike Smith’s judicial machinations in a previous Substack.

Gary Judd KC: Submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee on the New Zealand....

Submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee on the New Zealand - India Free Trade Agreement

Voters are entitled to be angry

Submissions on the FTA closed at midnight last night. In the nick of time, I lodged a submission which largely follows The Sting in the India Trade Deal. It also added this:

Ashley Church: Europe’s de facto referendum on Israel

Why Eurovision matters right now

For nearly three years now, a moral, cultural and political battle about Israel has been raging across the West.

On one side are those who still remember the lessons of history and who recognise the ancient hatred of the Jewish people, even when they see it wearing new clothes.

On the other side are those who have chosen to excuse, minimise, rationalise or even celebrate evil, so long as that evil is directed at Israel.

Andrew Dickens: Parents are responsible for avoiding 'credit crunching'

The government has confirmed major changes to New Zealand’s secondary school qualification system, officially replacing NCEA with a new subject-based model.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford announced the shift in Orewa, saying the current NCEA system is too complex and doesn’t clearly show how well students have mastered their subjects.

Bob Edlin: Constitutional change affects funding of Parliament....

Constitutional change affects funding of Parliament – and reminds us of the Ombudsman’s rebalancing

RNZ has drawn attention to a procedural motion in Parliament last week which “quietly marked one of the more significant constitutional changes of recent years”.

It dealt with the issue of how Parliament is funded.

The Notice of Motion from Leader of the House Louise Upston concerning the estimates (budgets) for the three officers of Parliament and the Parliamentary agencies lasted five minutes on Wednesday evening and flew under most people’s radars.

David Farrar: The failure of fees free

Fees free tertiary education a central policy for Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins. They promised in 2017, that it would boost tertiary participation, especially for those from poorer families, who they said were put off by high fees.

The policy bombed almost straight away. We know this because Labour never implemented the full policy. They kept it at first year only, because even they worked out it was a hugely expensive policy that simply transferred money from all taxpayers to students from wealthy families (who would go on to earn $2 million more than those who didn’t get a degree).

Tuesday May 19, 2026 

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Michael Laws: The Maori Queen Has “historic Anger”

The Maori Queen has “historic anger” - Michael Laws says that’s holding Maori back.

Click to view

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: What problems will buying back BNZ solve?

Here’s a question for you: if you really like Winston Peters’ idea of buying back the BNZ - why? What problem do you think will be solved by buying it back?

Do you think the banks are ripping you off because they’re owned by Australians, and that if only one of them were owned by us again, they wouldn’t?

Ryan Bridge: A clean up of cabinet is overdue

In February last year I wrote a piece for the Herald about government department and Ministerial overload.

It was partly informed by observation and partly by New Zealand Initiative paper on the subject.

Mike's Minute: Do the unions have anything positive to say about education?

Can anyone tell me why literally everything that is ever done in the education space is rejected, hated and railed against by the unions?

Have the education unions ever not asked for more money, more resources or more non-contact time, while at the same time telling you everything in the classroom is crap?

DTNZ: Peters unveils KiwiSaver-from-birth scheme and BNZ buyback plan

NZ First leader Winston Peters has announced a pair of major economic policies, including compulsory KiwiSaver enrolment at birth with a $1000 Crown contribution and a proposal to buy back the Bank of New Zealand from Australian ownership.

Speaking at a campaign event in West Auckland today Peters said every New Zealand citizen would automatically become a KiwiSaver member at birth under what he called the “KiwiSaver Generation” policy.

Philip Crump: CENSORED

How the establishment tried to kill a story and why it didn't work


On October 15, 2020, three weeks before the US presidential election, the New York Post broke a bombshell story detailing lurid allegations of drugs, prostitution and influence peddling by Hunter Biden, the troubled son of Democrat nominee Joe Biden. For a moment it threatened to be the determining factor in a knife-edge race between President Donald J. Trump and his Democrat challenger. But the broadcast and print media ignored the story. The Post’s Twitter account was locked, and Facebook’s algorithms prevented the story from spreading across its platform.

David Farrar: Is this the proof Winston is planning to go with Labour

One of the most common questions I get asked by audiences is whether NZ First will go with National or Labour after the election. My response is that there is no reason to not take Winston at his word when he says he has ruled out Labour.

But now a speech by Winston has given extreme doubt over his pledge not to go with Labour. In terms of how he will pay for his Marxist plan to nationalise the BNZ, he says:

David Harvey: Online Media Regulation - Continued

On Friday 15 May 2026, after a debate in Parliament, Minister Erica Stanford announced that the Bill introduced that would restrict access by under 16’s to certain social media platforms would be “paused”.

There was some discussion about whether or not this could in fact be done unilaterally. The Bill is on the agenda and to stop Parliament voting on the bill, the Government would have to rely on Opposition MPs agreeing to an 11th hour change to Parliament’s agenda.

But the reason for the “pause” is interesting and concerning. Stanford’s office said:

Damien Grant: The Estonia trip, the ‘Mean Girls’ parody and the fall of an FMA chair

There is an absurdity at the heart of our regulatory state. Civil servants, most of whom have never run a chicken coop, are given the state’s authority to regulate a sector that few have the competence to participate in. Imagine asking me to judge Japanese poetry. You get the idea.

Those that can, do. Those that cannot, regulate.

Peter Williams: A BoNkerZ idea

No Winston, we should not buy a big bank

Since my first vote in 1975 I’ve been pretty much around the party clock, although I never stopped at Green o’clock. Once I even put a tick beside a Social Credit candidate because Muldoon’s National was just impossible to support in 1981.

I’ve been with Labour and National and Act but in 2023 I went with New Zealand First. That’s because they promised us a proper inquiry into the covid response and that they would ensure if treaty principles were not to be defined, they would at least be taken out of most legislation.

David Farrar: Managing the fuel crisis

The Government announced:

The Government’s unprecedented contract with Z Energy for close to 90 million additional litres of diesel, equivalent to around nine days’ supply, has been signed, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones say.

This will make a real difference.

Monday May 18, 2026 

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John Raine: Don’t Back Down on the Education Reforms, Erica Stanford

The Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) has circled its wagons and is mounting a noisy counterattack on Education Minister Erica Stanford’s much-needed Education Reforms [1].   Last year it was loud objection (still ongoing) to the new literacy and numeracy curricula, solid science learning, and a lessening in the focus on the Treaty of Waitangi required of School boards. Now it is the pushback on the new NZCE Year 12-13 schools’ qualification which will have compulsory exams in every subject.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Is anyone looking out for businesses?

We need to talk about what Chris Hipkins has said about immigration.

First of all, Labour can frankly shut up accusing the Nats of anti-migrant rhetoric because this is a party that hasn’t got a leg to stand on when it comes to migration.

Ryan Bridge: Old school is the best school

In education, old school is the best kind of school.

Secondary students will be forced to learn science, as well as maths and English, in the fifth form.

They'll be graded, not on merit or achieved or whatever, but A+ to E.

Ashley Church: The stories RNZ doesn’t want you to hear

What will it take to get Goldsmith to act?

For some time now, I have argued that New Zealand needs an independent inquiry into the editorial culture, balance and conduct of its two state broadcasters, Radio New Zealand and Television New Zealand.

Both of these Broadcasters have drifted from their traditional role as reporters of the news, into an extreme form of ideological bias which shapes the ways that news is selected, framed and prioritised.

Roger Partridge: An affront to democracy?

Mike Smith, the climate activist suing six of New Zealand’s largest companies over greenhouse gas emissions, is unhappy. On Tuesday, the Government announced it will amend the Climate Change Response Act 2002 to stop cases like his and others like it. Smith calls the move “an affront to democracy.”

He has the wrong end of the stick.

Dr Eric Crampton: Alcohol licensing changes burden applicants with cost of objections

There’s always been a tension in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.

The Act’s object has two parts. It seeks that the sale, supply, and consumption of alcohol should be undertaken safely and responsibly. It also seeks to minimise the harm caused by excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: North Sea’s future hangs in the balance

UK

Miliband vows permanent shutdown of North Sea

Labour is to ban new oil and gas fields in Britain, making it far harder for any future government to reopen the North Sea. A legal prohibition on new drilling in the energy independence bill will make Ed Miliband’s temporary moratorium on new drilling permanent. Labour also plans to legally ban onshore fracking.