Ryan Bridge: There's still too much uncertainty around mining

New Zealand First’s mining policy hits all the right notes but ultimately is not worth the paper it’s written on.

I’ll tell you why.

On the whole, Kiwis don’t mind a bit of mining, so long as there are good jobs to be had in the right place — preferably not the middle of Milford Sound.

Pee Kay: Farting Against Thunder Continues

On Tuesday, March 10th, an EF-1 tornado destroyed the Dunns Bridge Solar I and II facilities owned by the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO). The facilities, located outside of Wheaton, Indiana, had 2.4 million solar panels, totaling 700 megawatts (MW) of power capacity, and reportedly cost $1 billion to construct—a little over $1,400

 per kilowatt (kW).

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: The oil price policy traps from the 1970s which the Government should learn from

Brent crude hit $112 a barrel last Friday. Goldman Sachs says it could reach $147 if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed; the futures market predicts it will be $86 in six months. Anyone who knew for sure could make a fortune. But no one does.

The inexorable pressure on governments to “do something”, always has dangers New Zealand has been here before. Twice. First in 1973–74 and again in 1979–80.

Dr James Kierstead: Another academic freedom case

Academic freedom has become a major concern at universities across the English-speaking world in recent years. Speakers have been disinvited, papers retracted, and academics disciplined or even dismissed for things they have said or positions they have taken. My 2024 Initiative report on academic freedom at New Zealand universities demonstrated that academic freedom is also at risk here.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Just the opening act

The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Flights through the Middle East have been cancelled. Petrol has surged well past $3 a litre.

Four thousand shipping containers of New Zealand meat and dairy sit stranded on rerouted vessels. Tourism operators are fielding mass cancellations. The Reserve Bank Governor gave an emergency speech to business leaders on Tuesday.

Henry Olsen: The immigrant's odyssey

Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey is expected to be a big hit this winter. Closer to home, Kiwis may want to discover another perilous journey: that of at least 80,000 foreign neighbours, through cumbersome bureaucracy, to reach these shores across the wine-dark Tasman Sea.

Tell us, O muse, of what it takes to acquire an Accredited Employer Work Visa!

Ele Ludemann: Incompetence or worse?

Derek Cheng writes : Chris Hipkins says he never got the ‘unnecessary risk’ advice on teens and Covid vaccine. This Cabinet paper shows otherwise:

Then-Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins received advice about the potential risks of a second Covid-19 vaccine dose for teenagers at a time when tens of thousands of them had yet to get a follow-up jab.

David Farrar: Hold my beer, Willow-Jean, says Ginny

It was almost beyond dispute that Willow-Jean Prime was the worst Labour Education Spokesperson in living memory. It is hard to think you can do worse than having your leader criticise the Government for a lack of consultation over NCEA, and then learn Willow-Jean personally ignored or declined three personal requests from the Minister to brief her.

Lindsay Mitchell: Hipkins under-performing and underwhelming

Opposition leader Chris Hipkins does a regular slot with host Nick Mills on the Wellington NewstalkZB morning show.

On Wednesday, much of the half hour was consumed by the host trying to extract from Hipkins what Labour would be doing about the fuel 'crisis' if in government. This was fastidiously avoided with various excuses, one being that, as opposition, they weren't privy to the kind of information the government has. Yet later in the show, when pressed on how long he thought the Iran conflict would go on, Hipkins said, "The official advice we got yesterday, when we met with the government and thankfully they did give us the opportunity to get a bit of a briefing, was even if the conflict ended quickly there will be months of disruption to fuel supplies so as a result, we are going to experience higher fuel prices for longer." So that excuse didn't wash. Luxon's crystal ball is no clearer than Hipkin's.

Mike's Minute: Here's the problem with the Reserve Bank economists

The problem with people like Paul Conway, who is the Chief Economist at the Reserve Bank, is they “know” some stuff.

They sound good in a speech, but their record exposes them badly.

Paul gave a speech this week to the National Financial Advisers conference.

Sunday March 29, 2026 

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Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - Sleepwalking into the worst crisis since Covid

“Thought Covid was bad? If New Zealand runs out of diesel, Covid will look like the rehearsal.” That line from Matthew Hooton in the Herald this morning lands like a slap. Not because it’s designed to alarm, but because Hooton is making a precise argument, not a rhetorical one. During the pandemic, the circulatory system of the economy kept pumping. He explains today that trucks still delivered to supermarkets, harvesters still picked crops, milk tankers still collected from farms, and ambulances still ran. None of that is guaranteed now.

Guest Post: How AI Can Build a Smaller, Smarter State

A guest post by Chris Scott on Kiwiblog:

Every so often, New Zealand produces a piece of public policy that doesn’t really belong to the left or the right — it simply works. ACC is the classic example. When it arrived in the 1970s, it wasn’t universally adored, but it solved a real problem in a way both sides could live with. The left valued the universality and fairness; the right appreciated the end of endless litigation and the stability it brought to business.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 29.3.26

Sunday March 29, 2026 

News:
Rangatahi seek a voice around Ōpōtiki council table
Rangatahi and youth advocates have presented their aspirations to the Ōpōtiki District Council to have a greater say in council matters.

Founder of youth group Ōpōtiki Rangatahi Pā Alex Le Long brought a group of young people to a recent council meeting to express the need for a youth council for Ōpōtiki.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 28 March 2026

NCEA is dead, Stanford pulls the plug on a broken system

Education Minister Erica Stanford has confirmed the beginning of the end for NCEA. A system she says had become “fragmented, difficult to understand, and too easy to game”. And that diagnosis will resonate with a lot of parents, teachers, and students who have watched the credibility of the qualification steadily erode. The replacement is set to be more structured with a foundational literacy and numeracy award at Year 11, followed by two subject-based qualifications in Years 12 and 13. It is a shift back toward a system where what you achieve actually signals what you know, rather than how effectively you’ve navigated the credit-collecting maze that NCEA became.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - Te Kāika and the broken model of social service contracting

In Dunedin, a charity called Te Kāika has been receiving tens of millions of dollars in government funding to provide health and social services to some of the city’s most vulnerable people. Over the past year, the Otago Daily Times has been methodically pulling back the curtain on what is going on inside this organisation. The picture is not pretty: nepotistic governance, unexplained payments to the leadership, staff fleeing in droves, government contracts unfulfilled, a youth facility shut down over abuse allegations, and a senior manager convicted of domestic violence. The Department of Internal Affairs is now investigating.

Professor Jerry Coyne: Indigenous “ways of knowing” invade Canadian science classes

I’ve spent a lot of time pushed many electrons going after the fallacy in New Zealand that indigenous “ways of knowing”—in this case from the Māori—are just as valid as so-called “Western ways of knowing,” which is what Kiwi progressives call “science”. You can see my pieces here, but there are many.

This sacralization of the oppressed, whereby the beliefs of minorities are given extra credibility, has now spread to Canada, a pretty woke place. Lawrence Krauss, who now lives in British Columbia, was astonished and depressed to find indigenous (Native American) superstitions treated as science in the secondary-school curriculum.

Melanie Phillips: Finish the job, Mr. President!

In the new reality of warfare, winning can be losing and losing can be winning

As the clock ticks away toward US President Donald Trump’s latest “negotiate or I unleash hell” deadline, the Iranian regime thinks that it’s winning.

In the West, the serried ranks of “experts” also think that America and Israel are heading either for a deepening quagmire or a humiliating retreat. It’s not possible to predict how the war against Iran will end — or even what the next day will bring.

Zachary Collier: What Gives Something Value?

Understanding how trade works.

It’s spring, which is bad news if you have pollen allergies, but is good news if you are planning to buy or sell a home: this is typically the busiest season for home sales. If you are buying a home or selling a home, the concept of value is one that is very important to keep in mind. Why is one buyer willing to offer more than another for the same house? Or why would a seller be willing to lower the price of their home?

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: Labour MPs demand a rethink on Net Zero

UK

Up to 40 Labour MPs write to Starmer demanding the party waters down its Net Zero commitments

Dozens of Labour MPs have written to Sir Keir Starmer and three Cabinet members demanding the Government looks at watering down its Net Zero commitment to drive sales of electric vehicles amid fears UK carmakers might have to shed jobs.