Breaking Views Update: Week of 26.7.26

Wednesday July 29, 2026 

News:
Iwi proposal would reshape central North Island councils around mountains and rivers
A group of central North Island iwi has unveiled a proposal to reorganise local government around the region’s mountains, river catchments and the communities connected to them.

Discussions between Ruapehu District Council, iwi partners and local communities have ramped up in the past week as the first deadline looms in the Government’s local government reform programme.

Lindsay Mitchell: National are not promising you anything except other people's money

National are not promising you anything except other people's money.

The latest example, having historically opposed Paid Parental Leave, they are now promising to extend it further. This is what they famously did with the Clark government's Working for Families which sealed the 2005 election for Labour. Remember John Key and his scathing comment about 'communism by stealth'? He had three terms to repeal but it is still with us. In this term National have increased payments.

Pee Kay: Do you smell fish?

Do you think these houses were ever going to be temporary?

Were these houses always going to be gifted to local Maori and do you think this was the agenda all along?

JD: An Analysis of TOP’s Taxes

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

Amid the current MSM hoopla about TOP, momentarily muted as the press pack rushes off to dig up dirt on Paul Henry and Stuart Nash, there is one key TOP policy winning voter attention that is seldom mentioned.

What’s driving TOP in the polls has nothing to do with them being ‘centrists’, offering a ‘measured alternative’ to Labour or National and claiming to be willing to work with either of them, it is simply that TOP are offering free money, and who can resist that?

Andrew Dickens: Was Luxon right to rule out TOP?

So, Christopher Luxon has ruled out working with TOP.

There's some speculation that the decision was made on the fly and might not have been fully thought out.

He didn't seem so certain about himself as he walked away from the press cameras.

Peter Williams: My vote needs a home

Fifteen weeks out it's struggling to find one

The great irony of Christopher Luxon ruling out a coalition with those redistributive Marxists of Opportunity is that the longer Luxon leads National it’s becoming the kind of left leaning social democratic party I’ve spent my life avoiding.

Consider some of their recent announcements and claims:

Brendan O'Neill: Who would take up arms for Broken Britain?

A survey has found that only six per cent of Brits would fight for the nation. I hate that I understand why.

Putin will be over the moon. Caves in Iraq will echo with the laughter of whatever remains of ISIS. For a new poll has found that a measly six per cent of Britons would take up arms if we faced an ‘imminent invasion’. Armies of mad Islamists could be amassing on our beaches and just one in 17 of us would ask for a gun. ‘We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be’, said Churchill. Not anymore, we won’t.

Melanie Phillips: A tsunami of lies

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani should be held to account for libellous incitement against Israel and the Jews

We are being overwhelmed by a global tsunami of lies.

Flanked by US and New York City flags, the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, packed so many lies about Israel into a videoed two-minute hate that he sounded like the late Hassan Nasrallah on double speed.

Kerre Woodham: Recessions are toughest on our youngsters

Now in any recession, it's the young ones who are going to find it hardest to get jobs, and this recession is no different. Student Job Search says many students and graduates are really struggling to find jobs, part time, full time, which means they're also finding it tough to pay the rent and to put food on the table. And just looking at the story, it seems that many young people who've followed their passions are finding it the most difficult to get work. They've taken out student loans to get degrees in fields like screen production or radio, or they've done a Bachelor of Communications and then they're finding that the jobs simply aren't there, not for entry level.

David Farrar: Luxon rules out TOP

The Post reports:

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has ruled out working with Opportunity after the election.

Opportunity has polled within a percentage point of the 5% threshold in three different public polls in recent weeks. If the party made it into Parliament on current polling its support would be needed for either the coalition or the Opposition parties to govern.

Alwyn Poole: Two Good Indicators and Two VERY bad indicators for NZ Children and Young People

The Good

1. There has been a positive and statistically significant improvement in full school attendance for Term 2 2026 compared to the previous 10 years.

2. I was asked about Erica Standford’s engagement with schools. I therefore took the time to go through her Minister of Education diary for the last three years. I found that she has directly visited approximately 60 schools. Given that she is also Minister of Immigration I would think that this is a very good level of engagement. A case can be made that there is a low level of visits to highly challenged schools but the diary contains no information about where she has actually been invited to.

Tuesday July 28, 2026 

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What’s Wrong With Local Government

On The Platform Michael Laws chats about what’s wrong with local government, and why the government may make it worse, and his view on fixing it.

Click to view

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Do we need a moratorium on data centres?

There's a bit of having your cake and eating it too when it comes to people who turn their noses up at these data centres.

The Greens are jumping up and down about them. Of course they are. They say they'll suck up power from the grid, push up electricity prices and create only a handful of jobs. That's the problem, apparently.

Dave Witherow: Power Pressure

There was a time when we used to be rich – number three in the world pecking order. Now, at number 63, and sinking fast, we are approaching the status of a third-world backwater. Poverty is widespread, and many New Zealanders are unable to afford the basics of existence. Electricity, for example – which used to cheap, is now so expensive that in the last year alone some 20,000 households had their power cut off at least once – despite government subsidies which last winter topped half a billion dollars. People are taking out loans to pay their power bills, sinking deeper into debt, while the power companies, (which we used to own) rack up about four billion profit per annum.

Mike's Minute: We need to recognise the legacy of Bill Birch

I was a bit deflated a couple of Fridays ago when the news of the passing of Bill Birch came through.

His life contribution and story barely got a mention.

But I felt better this last Friday when at least his funeral got much better coverage.

Pee Kay: Social and Economic Survival or Managed Social and Economic Decline?

The 2026 election not as a choice between left and right, it is not a choice about who you have traditionally voted for and it is definitely not a choice of voting for who your parents and grandparents voted for.

This November it is actually a choice between social and economic survival, or managed social and economic decline!

Geoff Parker: Culture Is Not Democracy - Equal Citizenship Is

Professor Dominic O'Sullivan argues that abolishing Mana Whakahono ā Rohe Agreements "undermines democracy". In reality, the opposite is true.

No one is arguing that Māori culture should be excluded from public life. Every New Zealander is free to express their culture, advocate for their interests, and participate in democratic processes.

The issue is whether one ethnic group should enjoy statutory rights that no other citizens possess.

Rodney Hide: The Private Text That Triggered the Outrage Machine

Is it too soon to declare the brouhaha over Mr Stuart Nash’s text theatre? And a political hit job?

I don’t know. Let’s test the water.

Elizabeth Lawrence: Are Teachers Unions Sneaking DEI Into Classroom AI?

Left-wing activists have found a new way to indoctrinate kids.

Powerful teachers unions and education groups across the US are allegedly working to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion – also known as DEI – into artificial intelligence (AI) before the technology is fully integrated into American classrooms, according to a new investigative report by Defending Education, a watchdog group.