Damien Grant: Ex-Navy officer Chris Penk can see the iceberg ahead....

......yet National threw him overboard

Last Wednesday I was presenting to the Construction Industry Council. An excellent organisation, despite their lapse in judgement regarding the calibre of their guest speakers.

As I waited my turn, between checking my phone for the revelation on who would emerge as this week’s Prime Minister and silently checking X, a senior executive from the construction division of MBIE was addressing the conference on upcoming and ongoing reforms.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Does Erica Stanford deserve the backlash?

So Erica Stanford denies she was preparing to stand for leader in the coup against Chris Luxon.

Now, no one with two eyes and even a basic understanding of politics is going to believe that story, because Erica Stanford was the only person whose name was in the leadership mix who refused to express confidence in Chris Luxon. Chris Bishop did. Mark Mitchell did. Even Chris Penk did. But not Erica Stanford.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 16.8.26

Monday August 17, 2026 

News:
ACT pledges to end ‘race-based hiring’ in public service ‘reset’
The ACT Party says it will campaign on reforming public service legislation to end what it calls “race-based hiring” and “reset” government agencies around principles of merit and equal treatment.

Geoff Parker: The Littlewood Treaty - The Missing English Draft? Or A Back-translation?

A response to Barrie Davis's interpretation of the Littlewood document

Barrie Davis has recently written about the Littlewood document. His argument is difficult to pin down, but he ultimately appears to regard it not as the original final English draft prepared for translation into Māori, but as an English back-translation produced in connection with the Māori translation on 4 February 1840.

It is an interesting argument, but I am left with several questions.

But first what is not disputed?

Bruce Cotterill: Christopher Luxon leadership - National caucus coup attempt overshadows election issues

Christopher Luxon must really like his job. If he didn’t, I’m not sure why he would spend his time working in the environment he has had to endure over the past couple of weeks.

This week’s National Party shenanigans were as close to a political suicide mission as we have seen in this country. I’m not sure what the agitators in the National Party caucus were thinking, but they certainly weren’t thinking about the best interests of their party, the coalition, or, most importantly, the country.

David Seymour: Implementing ONE LAW for ALL in the public service

Below is a video of ACT's One Law for All in the Public Service policy announcement - and following questions from the media - it is well worth watching and listening to. Also a text summary of the speech.

Ashley Church: Has New Zealand permanently moved to the left?

Passing the point of no return

We’re all familiar with the mental image of a man, alone in the middle of the ocean, his ship gone beneath him, clinging desperately to a piece of wreckage and convincing himself that if he can just hold on a little longer, rescue will come.

I’m starting to wonder whether that’s me – hanging on to the belief that New Zealand had decisively rejected the direction of the previous Labour government and that the political drift since then was temporary, accidental, or simply the result of National failing to deliver what people thought they had voted for.

David Lillis: Holding Free and Fair Elections

A colleague of mine, Professor Zlatko Kovačić, has published a book on election forensics, or work that contributes to holding free and fair national elections. Currently, his book is generating great interest in his home country of Serbia, and he has been interviewed online about this book.

You can download the book here:

https://bit.ly/election-forensics

Nathan Smith: Why the Boomers love NZ First

This week, the party of Winston Peters (Boomer) announced the Kiwi Kids Grant. The policy would offer tax-free payments of $5000 a year for the first three years of a child’s life, for up to three children. Peters said the goal was to reverse what he called a “population precipice” of declining birth rates in New Zealand and argued $400 million a year would ultimately be much cheaper than relying on increased immigration.

Nick Clark: Bigger councils are no bargain for business

Suppose a business is deciding where to expand around Christchurch. It can compare rates and building consent performance in Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri.

If one council becomes too slow or expensive, investment can cross the boundary without leaving the local economy. That nearby choice is one of the few checks businesses have on council performance. The Government’s Head Start programme could weaken it.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: The umlaut premium

Bürgen is leaving New Zealand. After decades on our supermarket shelves, the grainy loaves with the German name will soon be gone.

Except the name was never German. Master baker Doug Leighton invented Bürgen in the 1980s. Its owner, George Weston Foods, is as Australian as Vegemite.

The recipe leaned on Europe, and the umlaut (ü) did the rest.

Roger Partridge: Who makes the law? The Attorney-General answers

Outside Chris Bishop’s office in the Beehive hangs a framed copy of a court judgment. Last week, in a speech to the Law Association, the Attorney-General explained why he keeps it there.

The case is Fitzgerald v Muldoon, a judgment now fifty years old. Prime Minister Robert Muldoon had announced, without asking Parliament, that New Zealanders could stop paying into the previous Labour government’s compulsory superannuation scheme. A man named Fitzgerald took Muldoon to court and won. Chief Justice Wild ruled that a Prime Minister cannot switch off a law by announcing it. Only Parliament can do that.

David Farrar: Ruth calls it straight

Ruth Richardson writes:

As inflation rears its ugly head again, New Zealand First proposes stripping the Reserve Bank of its sole mission to fight inflation. In an exercise in virtue signalling, employment is bolted on as a second mission. Labour’s Barbara Edmonds wants the same.

This is sheer monetary policy vandalism, flying in the face of all the evidence that there is no trade-off between price stability and employment. That monetary policy can permanently deliver employment growth is nothing more than a cruel hoax.

Sunday August 16, 2026 

                   ⇩

Barrie Davis: The Littlewood Document – Draft or Back-translation?

Until recent times, there has not been identified a complete draft in English of the Treaty of Waitangi. In 1989, a previously unknown hand-written text in English of the Treaty was found at the Littlewood family home in Pukekohe. It is on paper with an 1833 watermark with the signature of Governor William Hobson and the date 4 February 1840 on the verso.

Doug Fraser: A Model for Southland Local Government Reform

This proposal has been developed in response to the current local government reform discussions in Southland and is intended as a constructive contribution to the Government’s wider reform programme.

The paper recognises that, while there may ultimately be support for a unitary council in Southland, there is currently no consensus on either the preferred governance model or the pathway for achieving it. Rather than delaying meaningful reform until agreement is reached, this proposal outlines a practical transitional model that allows operational reform to begin immediately while preserving local democratic governance.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 15 August 2026

Yes, I was in the news. Nope, wasn’t fun.

Read about it from my perspective here:

Major General John G. Howard: Nobody is planning to invade us

If nobody is planning to invade New Zealand, why would we need a defence force? So runs the logic of those questioning the decision to increase defence spending.

The awkward part: the first half is true. Nobody is planning to invade us.

Repelling invasion has never been the job. The NZDF does other work that defends our national interests.

Roger Partridge: Harmed by harm - How a word is swallowing freedom

Last month, ten organisations representing New Zealand’s ethnic, faith and multicultural communities delivered what they called an election message to the political parties: commit to new hate speech laws before New Zealanders vote. The Green Party committed to implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, including extending the incitement provisions and the prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Human Rights Act to cover religion. Labour said it was considering “legislative settings” and would announce its position “in due course.” ACT, the smaller party in the governing coalition, said the existing law was adequate. National, the senior party in that coalition, said it did not support legislating against hate speech, pointing instead to its Peace and Harmony Accord with community leaders.

John Denton: Think Big 2

“We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil”, is the anthem of Australia, that modern day El Dorado, as it sings its siren song to Kiwi youth and talent.

Built on the wealth from its twin endowments of agricultural and pastoral space dozens of times larger than that of NZ, and a mineral/energy abundance where one year’s exports exceed NZ’s total GDP from all sources, how can New Zealand ever compete?