Breaking Views Update: Week of 15.2.26

Saturday February 21, 2026 

News:
Army pauses cultural skills framework after concern raised with Minister
The implementation of a cultural skills framework for Army personnel has been paused after concerns were raised with the Defence Minister about potential requirements for leaders to know waiata and karakia off by heart.

Act MP Todd Stephenson wrote to Defence Minister Judith Collins after being sent a copy of the framework, saying it appeared to go beyond normal expectations of the Public Service.

Caleb Anderson: Policy Design and Ideological Overreach

I am probably not alone in noticing that many of the policies implemented by recent governments seem to be based on highly questionable assumptions and trade-offs. Poor policy design seems to be something we have become especially good at. 

Consequently, we frequently miss the mark at the level of delivery and, therefore, of impact.

Ryan Bridge: Why aren't people buying apartments?

I was driving through a street just out of Auckland’s CBD yesterday and saw all these apartments for sale.

New buildings. Many looked empty. Loads of 'for sale' signs.

Why don't people want to buy them? Is it the price?

Ani O'Brien: Sewage, scrutiny, and the politics of accountability

Is it racist to be angry at elected representatives? Moa Point as a case study

When a city pumps tens of millions of litres of raw sewage into the sea day after day, the public is entitled to anger. There is human waste in the sea and on the shore, beaches are closed in peak season, businesses hammered, and ratepayers are wondering how their rates keep going up but the capital city can’t keep its basic infrastructure functioning. They are allowed to be proper mad.

And, when sh*t goes down, so to speak, people want answers and accountability. The equation becomes brutally simple. Something has gone wrong, someone must be responsible, and we want a solution.

John McLean: Dr Thomsen's "Study"

New Zealand academic standards plunge new depths

On 13 February 2026, the New Zealand Medical Journal published the results of a study into whether discrimination against certain “Pacific people” in New Zealand’s public health system is associated with those people not using that system.

The article’s title is Investigating the association between experiencing discrimination in healthcare settings and avoidance of healthcare services among Pacific Rainbow+ in Aotearoa New Zealand. Insomniacs can read the article below:

Peter Dunne: MMP and Social Cohesion

Last week, at the New Zealand Economic Forum at Waikato University I was part of a panel discussing whether MMP had contributed to social cohesion.

I argued that MMP had definitely made more Parliament more diverse and representative of contemporary New Zealand by giving the opportunity of a wider range of political opinions to be expressed. However, it was doubtful that it had contributed positively to social cohesion. Indeed, I suggested that, contrary to expectations, MMP has actually had a negative effect on social cohesion.

Roger Partridge: Damned if they do, damned if they don’t - The billion-dollar bill for Labour’s gas ban

Few policies manage to unite the left, the right and the Taxpayers’ Union in opposition. The Government’s billion-dollar LNG import terminal in Taranaki managed it inside 24 hours. By Tuesday morning, it had been attacked from the left as a gas tax, from the right as a new levy on households, and from the commentariat as a waste of money better spent on solar panels and batteries.

All of which rather misses the point.

Mike's Minute: This is why the real issues get ignored

It was the fish that summed it up for me.

The Infrastructure Commission report was profound in its nature this week.

Chris Bishop was dead right on this programme when he talked of its importance and, yet, its dryness.

Matua Kahurangi: NZ First implements ban to stop the “rape of the rockpools”

For months, locals along the east coast north of Auckland have been forced to witness the same disgusting spectacle. Busloads of predominantly Chinese immigrants descending with buckets, chilly bins, spades, and even piano wire, turning vibrant rockpools into lifeless deserts.

Kerre Woodham: Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel?

The Official Cash Rate has been left unchanged, 2.25%, expected by all the commentators, but perhaps less expected was a dovish view of the future. It was the new Reserve Bank Governor's, well she's not that new I suppose, the newish Reserve Bank Governor's first OCR review, having come on board at the end of '25. She is pretty optimistic about the economy. She said it will continue to recover, but she understands that many households are not feeling it yet. Must be rather annoying being told, no, everything's fine, everything's turning around, everything's great, while you're looking down the back of the couch for coins to get the kids' school lunches.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Dismantling the competition myth

Ask anyone in Australia’s competition law community what transformed the economy, and you will hear a familiar story. Australia was once a cartelised, complacent place where businesses divided up markets and consumers paid the price. Then came the Trade Practices Act in 1974, and competition law forced firms to compete.

This is not a fringe view. Peter Costello, in his foreword to a book marking the Act’s twenty-fifth anniversary, called it “one of the most important pieces of economic legislation in Australia.” He credited it with creating “a new culture of competition in the Australian economy.”

Friday February 20, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Chris Bishop's housing u-turn is basic common sense

Well, finally Chris Bishop has done the right thing and made the u-turn on the two million new houses he had planned for Auckland.

It’s not altogether a surprise that he did this and announced it this afternoon, because it’s been rumoured for months - for the obvious reason that it’s election year.

Chris Lynch: Seymour defends Treaty stance, backs removal of Māori seats

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has dismissed criticism from former Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel over his comments on the teaching of colonisation, saying New Zealand should focus on equal rights rather than what he calls inherited divisions.

Dalziel wrote in an opinion piece that Seymour’s characterisation of how colonisation is taught suggests it “casts children as victims or villains by birth,” describing that view as “disgraceful.”

JC: Global Shift to the Right

Here in New Zealand, it’s ACT and NZ First who are set to benefit.

The world wide move to the right seems loosely based on the strategies of Donald Trump and his America First policy which is nationalistic in nature. While the policy might appear to be primarily domestic, it does extend to the international stage. The strategies centre largely on immigration, security and being self-supporting and Trump’s immigration policies have so far been largely successful having pretty much closed off the southern border. So far more than 600,000 illegal immigrants have been detained and deported.

Alwyn Poole: Education processes and outcomes continue to get worse under the current coalition.

A lot has been made of “significant” changes to the NZ education system under Erica Stanford. Some things have been put in place (e.g. changes to early reading, cell-phone ban). Primary school curriculum changes are being rolled-out by schools during this year. Other changes - qualifications changes, senior curriculum - still have a long-way to go and there is much division in these areas.

Ryan Bridge: House prices no longer lead economic growth

So the OCR decision was largely as expected yesterday, but what the Reserve Bank made very clear is where they think growth will come from.

As we’ve spoken about on the show lately, house prices aren’t running away here like in Australia, bar Queenstown.

David Farrar: The real Teaching Council scandal is all the crappy projects

The Public Service Commission has published a scathing report into how the Teaching Council managed conflicts and procured work with a firm part owned by the CEOs husband. They note:

Mike's Minute: The employment law changes are fine

This time around the Brooke van Velden-led employment law changes have been described as a shake-up, even a major shake-up.

But as someone who well remembers the Employment Contracts Act and Bill Birch, what is being offered is merely a righting of a badly out of whack employment market.

David Farrar: The Kainga Ora turnaround

The change to Kainga Ora in the last two years has been massive. Chris Bishop has a long list of changes. Here are some of the bigger ones:

Matua Kahurangi: A taxpayer-funded piss-take: why the Māori seats have to go

If I had it my way, the Māori seats would be gone tomorrow. No referendum. No hand-wringing. Gone.

Because what they’ve become, in practice, is a protected lane for political cosplay, where performance gets rewarded and accountability gets treated like an insult. Te Pāti Māori have leaned into that harder than anyone. You only have to watch their conduct and attendance in Parliament to see they’re part-time MPs, full-time theatre.

Bob Edlin: Prime Minister's position on Maori seats.....

How the PM wriggles when asked to declare his position on the future of the Māori seats

Can the PM support something which he regards as senseless?

The answer is yes, when it comes to supporting the Māori seats.

An RNZ report in January 2023 was headed

Kerre Woodham: We need to see more governance and less politicking

The National Infrastructure Plan was released yesterday, and it makes for grim reading. I don't think anyone expected good news, but nonetheless a cold hard dose of reality is always unwelcome, especially when you've been wilfully ignoring the obvious for years. The plan looks at 17 sectors covering central government, local authorities, and commercially regulated utilities, and lays out a 30 year outline looking at how New Zealand can improve the way it plans, funds, maintains, and delivers infrastructure. So far, so very grown up, but really this is something that should have been done 30 years ago because in a nutshell, we have a huge infrastructure deficit. We need hospitals, we need roads, we need bridges, we need alternatives, we need cycleways, we need sewage, we need water pipes, we need electricity, we need alternative electricity, huge infrastructure deficit across all of the sectors.

Thursday February 19, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's hoping this Reserve Bank Governor does a better job

We’ve had the first monetary policy decision from the new Reserve Bank Governor, and it’s not until you get a new captain at the helm that you realise just how little confidence you had left in the previous one.

Now, to be fair, it’s early days for Anna Breman. We’ll judge her by what she does from here on in. But she does start with a clean slate - without us reading too much into her decisions or second-guessing every move because of a poor track record.

Peter Bassett: From Sewage to Sovereignty: How a Tidy Idea Picks Up Extra Luggage

When Wellington’s pipes start bursting in public and sewage plants break down big-time, it’s only a matter of time before someone reaches for a constitutional solution.

One such suggestion, made recently by a former mayor turned regular commentator, is to take Wellington out of local government entirely and rehouse it as a national capital district — Canberra-style, Washington-style, with central government holding the reins.

Ian Bradford: Ignoring Climate Reality

There are a number of examples where the amount of carbon dioxide does not correlate with a temperature rise. Why are they continually ignored?   

Climate alarmists think that because carbon dioxide continues to rise and they put forward the idea that we have global warming then it is clear that the two show a correlation. So if one quantity rises and another quantity rises, then there must be correlation.  There are many cases where this is not true.   

David Farrar: A former TPM co-leader on TPM

Te Ururoa Flavell writes:

1. Māori Party in court with its MPs

2. Two former Māori Party candidate options have gone to Greens. There may be others.

John Phelan: US Economic Growth Looks Slow — Until You Compare It to Europe’s

Over the past decade, the United States has outperformed every other G7 nation. Key measures show why the US is not just getting bigger, but also growing richer.

Americans aren’t happy with their economy. In October, Pew Research reported that “26 percent now say economic conditions are excellent or good, while 74 percent say they are only fair or poor.” This weighs heavily on their minds. In December, Gallup reported 35 percent of Americans “naming any economic issue” as “the most important problem facing this country today,” up from 24 percent in October.

Mike's Minute: The Labour Party needs to get serious

As I watch Chris Hipkins, presumably gleefully, mess about with the India Free Trade deal, I'm reminded this is not the Labour Party that did the FTA with China.

Hipkins is no Helen Clark and in that is a great sadness.

Tom Day: Hipkins, Luxon neck and neck as preferred PM

The results are according to the Verian poll of 1003 eligible voters taken between February 7 and February 11.

Poll results below:

David Farrar: More taxpayer funded union corruption

The Taxpayers’ Union reports:

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act requestthat staff at the Ministry of Education were paid $414,119.68 by taxpayers to do 8,528 hours of union work.

This includes organising and advocating on behalf of the New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI), the Public Service Association (PSA) and the Association of Professional and Executive Employees (APEX).

JC: What Is Life Without a Deal?

The headline is largely the gospel according to Donald Trump. I wrote an article on this topic a few weeks ago but it is worth exploring in a broader context. His deal making is a continuing source of angst to those on the left of the political spectrum, as they don’t do deals – they wouldn’t know how. That is the stark difference between a career politician (most are on the left) running a country and someone applying a business methodology to the political process. Politics also adds in a social arm to be considered also.

Matua Kahurangi: End the Māori seats debate properly with a binding vote

New Zealand First has done something most parties are too timid to do. They’ve put a hard, controversial issue back in front of the public and said you decide.

You would have seen last week that Winston Peters announced NZ First will campaign on a referendum on the future of the Māori seats ahead of November’s general election. That matters, because for years this topic has been treated like a political no-go zone, even though plenty of ordinary Kiwis have opinions on it.

But here’s the key point. A referendum that isn’t binding is just political theatre.

Kerre Woodham: Does the End of Life Act need amending?

Act MP Todd Stephenson has been looking to improve and extend the End of Life Bill since around August of last year. His new bill, for which he's seeking support across the House or has his fingers crossed it'll be drawn from the ballot, would incorporate every single recommendation made by the Ministry of Health's review into the End of Life Choice Act. He wants to restore the original intent of David Seymour's earlier member's bill by addressing what he calls the overly restrictive six-month prognosis requirement.

Wednesday February 18, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: What do the birth statistics say about our society?

You want some fascinating data about how we’ve changed in the past 60 years? Have a look at the birth statistics out today - especially the age at which mums are having babies.

Last year, 14 percent of births were to mums younger than 25. In 1995, which is just one generation ago, it was double that: 28 percent of births were to mums under 25.

Ryan Bridge: Would you pay $9 to cross the harbour bridge?

The answer depends on whether you can afford it. Congestion charging is coming and that'll add to the cost if you need to drive for work.

This is only a proposal-based on the original toll, inflation-adjusted, almost 70 years ago.

Mike's Minute: This court case is outrageously political

My summation of what we have heard so far in the Judge Aitken case. The “Did I yell at and interrupt and disrupt Winston?" case.

Aitken was on the stand, so to speak, yesterday, remembering none of this is criminal.

In fact, I would describe it as outrageously political.

Pee Kay: We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it!

The big gay out, OMG!

Have a look at the “costumes” of some of the attendees. The “MC” shouts to the audience, “The ACT Party and NZ First are not attending.”

Dr Eric Crampton: Disappointment in attempt to improve competition laws

The coalition agreements that formed the government promised an important change to the Commerce Act.

The Commerce Commission has always been able to take on traditional cartel arrangements: secret agreements where businesses divvy up a market, restrict output, and raise prices. Those arrangements are rightly subject to heavy monetary penalties.

But cartels are not the only way competition gets blocked.

Bruce Cotterill: Christopher Luxon v Chris Hipkins - What voters should expect from a PM

Those who follow such matters will have noticed that the Prime Minister seems reluctant to comment on the polls.

And who can blame him? I wouldn’t want to comment either. Although my reasons may be different to his.

I’d be reluctant to comment because I can’t believe they’re accurate. Incidentally, such a comment should not be read as me questioning the pollsters. But I really have to question the people they have participating.

JD: If 3% of My DNA Is Scandinavian, Am I Norwegian?

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

The 1961 census in New Zealand counted 167,086 people as Māori, using a criterion of at least 50 per cent Māori ancestry.

Then, in the 1986 census, the Labour Government, led by David Lange with Phil Goff as minister of statistics, introduced new rules allowing individuals to self-identify as Māori and, as a result, the recorded Māori population began to increase.

Tony Orman: The disastrous conversion of Fertile Agricultural Land into Pine Monocultures

What are the motives?

New Zealand was once a land of productive farms and independent food producers, but it is quietly – insidiously – being taken over by pine monocultures, fast growing water-sapping pine monocultures.

What lies behind the green curtain of ever-expanding pine forests energised by New Zealand’s illogical, irrational carbon trading scheme where once highly productive sheep and beef farms are planted in unmanaged, neglected forests.

David Farrar: A conservative landslide in Japan

NBC reports:

Japan’s conservative prime minister Sanae Takaichi has won a landslide victory after she gambled on a high-stakes snap election.

Takaichi, who took office in October after being elected leader of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), surpassed the 310 seats needed for a supermajority in the 465-seat lower house, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported from the official election count Sunday evening. The supermajority allows her ruling coalition to override the upper house, where it lacks a majority.

David Farrar: This is why the Govt is sidelining the Teachers’ Council

The Herald reports:

A damning review of the Teaching Council says the agency has lost focus on its core function of safeguarding children and needs transformative change to ensure it is meeting critical regulatory responsibilities. …

The report says the council is focused on “building the mana” of teachers and “being liked by the profession”.

Tuesday February 17, 2026 

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Ryan Bridge: Beware the insatiable beast that is the state

It's like a hungry child screaming for more food, even though you've just fed them dinner and pudding.

Across the Tasman, Jim Chalmers, the Aussie Treasurer is facing high debt and deficit. They've managed to achieve the highest level of spending to GDP of any government in 40 years outside the pandemic. Sound familiar?

Geoff Parker: Beware The Referendum Trap

Winston Peters has a gift. He knows exactly how to press the public’s emotional buttons without ever quite delivering what many think he’s promising. His 2026 pledge of a referendum on the Māori seats is a classic example. It sounds bold. It sounds democratic. It sounds decisive. But New Zealanders should pause — because this may be the most dangerous way imaginable to deal with a constitutional issue.

If Peters were genuinely serious about ending separatist parliamentary seats, he wouldn’t be floating a referendum at all. He would campaign openly on abolition of the Māori seats. The legal mechanism already exists. Repeal section 45 of the Electoral Act 1993 — along with the consequential provisions that support it — and the Māori seats disappear. Clean. Parliamentary. Accountable.

Instead, Peters offers a referendum.

Pee Kay: The United Nations New “Bogeyman”

Here it is, the United Nations new “Bogeyman”!

Be very, very afraid because it is on our door step!

As governments begin to sense the public’s growing disillusionment and disengagement with the threat inherent in climate change narratives, political focus, as it does when it senses a significant wind change, is shifting.

Fading climate hysteria is being replaced with a new urgent, unavoidable threat to human survival!

Richard Eldred: Marco Rubio Says Mass Migration is “a Crisis Destabilising the West”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned Europe’s leaders that mass migration is “a crisis destabilising the West” and that America does not want its allies “shackled by shame”. The Mail has the details.

Chris Lynch: Nearly 40,000 more building products approved for use in New Zealand

Nearly 40,000 additional plumbing and drainage products already widely used in Australia have been approved for use in New Zealand, in a move the Government says will reduce costs, cut red tape, and improve building productivity.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the approval of the second tranche of overseas certified products would make it easier and more affordable to deliver new homes and public buildings.

Centrist: School lunches scheme cuts complaints 88% and tracks $130m annual savings

The school lunches programme is tracking $130 million in annual savings, complaints are down 88%, and more than 37 million meals are served each year.

This week’s political fight has focused instead on a name change.

Peter Williams: Why Maori seats won't be abolished

National's obfuscation means the status quo

Stop the presses!

A political party wants the Maori electorates back on the election agenda. New Zealand First says let’s have a referendum and let the people decide.

The Winston party thinks it knows what the people would decide – we’d vote for their abolition, although probably only by narrow margin.