Ryan Bridge: Shocks can come any time

Tongariro is a National Park for a reason. It's a stunning part of the country.

The fact is currently on fire is worrying not just because it's a fire and you want fires to be put out, but also because of where it's happening.

Ruapehu/central North island's been taking a hammering lately.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The BBC scandal impacts trust across all media

Well, at least someone's resigned at the BBC.

In fact, two have resigned, both the director general and the boss of news - and the fact that this bias scandal at the BBC has claimed two of the most senior executives there tells you how serious it is.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 9.11.25

Tuesday November 11, 2025 

News:
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders speak to media as Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi expelled from party
Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi have been expelled from Te Pāti Māori.

Co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi announced the decision this morning, with Waititi saying it was part of the party “continuing to reset [its] waka”.

David Farrar: Te Pati Maori expels two MPs

Te Pati Maori has expelled Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. I can’;’t recall if any party has ever before expelled two MPs at once, let alone a third of their caucus.

What is also unusual is there appears to have been no due process where they get to argue in their defence.

Matua Kahurangi: Iwi heritage claims on private land are a racist rort

If you thought co-governance was bad, wait until you hear about this latest racket. Across Auckland, iwi are quietly working with councils to declare random chunks of privately owned land “culturally significant” and homeowners aren’t even told why.

ACT MP Simon Court exposed this shocking new front in the ongoing war against private property on The Platform last week, where he revealed that iwi are using so-called “heritage provisions” to muscle in on land they don’t own, under the flimsiest possible pretence of “spiritual connection.”

Pee Kay: It might not be about ownership of the water today… but it will be TOMORROW!!!

An article in the Herald headed “Māori group takes freshwater rights fight to court in landmark case against Crown” caught my eye last week .

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/maori-group-take-freshwater-rights-fight-to-court-in-landmark-case-against-crown/

“In a landmark case, a group representing Māori landowners and hapū across the country is fighting the Government in court over freshwater rights.”

Pee Kay: This From the MP Who Ignored a Meeting Request From Erica Stanford!

Not once but 4 times!

Hipkins and the motley crew of the good ship “Incompetence” plumb new depths of hypocrisy with this opinion piece!

Kevin: They Are Passing the Buck

Auckland Central MP Chloë Swarbrick says moving rough sleepers out of the city centre will only shift the problem to another place.

And?

 

Central government and Auckland Council are considering how they can move homeless people out of the CBD ahead of summer.

David Farrar: Exclusive analysis of which parties Maori voters support

At Patreon (paywalled) I have gone through six months of polls, to analyse which parties Maori New Zealanders say they are planning to vote for.

I haven’t done this just on the basis of ethnic identity, but also on the basis of Maori whakapapa (a New Zealanders with at least one Maori ancestor). There is a very significant difference between all those who are whakapapa Maori and those whose primary ethnic identity is Maori.

David Farrar: A very smart move by the Greens

Radio NZ reports:

Former Green MP Kevin Hague is returning to politics to be the party’s new chief of staff.

In a social media post on Thursday, Hague said he was coming “out of retirement” to take up the role after Eliza Prestidge-Oldfield stepped down.

Mike's Minute: Bank margins are going up despite major profits

The battle of the bank BS is back.

BNZ, who announced their profit last week, talked of the strong competition out there.

But I note their margin went up, up, 6 points to 2.43%.

 Monday November 10, 2025 

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NZCPR Newsletter: Tribal Defiance

In the early hours of Thursday 30 October 2025, members of the northern Ngatiwai tribe gathered at the Tutukaka marina for a 22 km boat trip to the Poor Knights Islands.

Ngatiwai is a multi-million-dollar tribal business conglomerate with 8,000 members. Registered as a charity, it pays no tax. Its income is derived largely from fisheries settlements, equity holdings, managed funds, Government contracts, commercial property, and consultation fees. As of 2024, it has an asset base of over $21.3 million and a property portfolio that includes the Oceans Resort Hotel in Tutukaka, the Bland Bay campground, and the Westpac and Warehouse buildings in downtown Whangarei.

Damien Grant: Hipkins’ capital gains tax policy leaves more questions than answers

Periodically my wife will bring home some Ikea-knock-off and expect me to assemble it; or worse find an odd-job around the house that any competent male could easily attend to and instruct me to attend to it.

You would think, after two decades of marriage and many failed handyman assignments, she’d have accepted the limitations of the man she walked down the aisle towards. Acceptance is the key to happiness, according to Epictetus.

David Round - Thoughts for our Time - Article 10

The English Civil Wars, which culminated in the beheading of the king on the 30th of January 1649, had been preceded by a long period of widespread discontent and growing public anger. Four years after coming to the throne, Charles had embarked on what his opponents called the ‘Eleven Years Tyranny’; eleven long years when the king did not once summon a parliament, and attempted to survive financially not by Parliamentary grants but by a variety of increasingly resented expedients ~ the sale of monopolies and honours, forced loans ~ and the king also had the ancient right to imprison without cause, which he imposed on those who did not care to lend him money ~ and the rigorous enforcement of ancient prerogatives, many of which, indeed, had long fallen into disuse and been half forgotten. Prominent among such prerogatives was the right to levy ‘Ship Money’. Originally coastal towns had been obliged to provide ships for the navy, but this had long been commuted to a monetary payment which the king could demand in time of war for the defence of the realm. Parliament alone, of course, had the right to impose new taxes and impositions on subjects, but it was perfectly lawful for the king to exercise rights he already possessed.

Matua Kahurangi: Ngāi Tahu’s gold-plated grift

When “cultural values” become a business model

Kudos to broadcaster Michael Laws for doing what few in the mainstream media dare to do, expose the brazen racket that New Zealand’s most powerful iwi, Ngāi Tahu, have turned “cultural values” into. His recent revelation on The Platform peels back the polished veneer of partnership and exposes what’s really going on behind the bureaucratic curtain, an audacious shakedown masquerading as spirituality.

Dr Eric Crampton: A stadium proposal

A commissioned report released this past week revealed a fact you may find surprising.

Rules stopping a stadium from hosting many events cause an enormous amount of forgone revenue over time. Amounts that can hit the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Dr Prabani Wood: Better health starts with better data

After over 16 years as a GP, I can tell you what keeps me up at night. It is not the long hours or the difficult diagnoses. It is wondering how much of a difference the care I provide makes for my patients.

I know my patients well. I know their histories, their families, their struggles. But I cannot tell you with confidence how many patients I have prevented from attending the emergency department or being admitted to hospital. I am unsure how my referral patterns compare to those of my colleagues.

This is not just my problem. It is New Zealand’s problem.

Dr Michael Johnston: A professional standards dilemma

Earlier this week, teachers’ unions accused Minister of Education Erica Stanford of a “blatant power grab.”

 
This followed Stanford’s announcement that the Teaching Council will no longer set professional standards for teacher training. The Ministry of Education will take over this responsibility.

Dr Eric Crampton: Be careful what you wish for – new cost-benefit analysis paves paradise

Sometimes, policy work is like wishing on a cursed wish-granting monkey’s paw. Like the one in the old Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode, later parodied in The Simpsons. Wish on the paw, one of the paw’s extended fingers will curl, and your wish will come true.

But not in the way you’d wanted. You may even wish that you’d never wished at all.