Peter Williams: The BSA's digging its own grave

Two decisions highlight the need for its rapid disestablishment

If more evidence was needed about the relevance or irrelevance of the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) then a couple of judgements they made this week have rammed home the point.

The decision about Sean Plunket on The Platform has been widely reported and commented on.

My take is simple.

Perspective with Andrew Dickens: The story of the scapegoat

So it's the story that swamped the country this week. And since I have not been on the radio really until today, this is my first, but also my last word about it.

Despite Christopher Luxon's win, there is obviously a significant part of his team that have little confidence in him. It's strongest amongst the backbenchers who can see their list seats evaporating, but it's also present in the front bench no matter what they say. And that is on the Prime Minister. Because all coups happen when MPs lose confidence in their leaders' messaging.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 9.8.26

Saturday August 15, 2026 

News:
Chateau Tongariro revival decision may not be made before the election, documents reveal
It’s unclear if a decision on the future of Chateau Tongariro will happen before the election, with officials saying iwi has “deliberately paused” talks on the landmark.

The chateau, near Mt Ruapehu, has sat empty since closing in early 2023 because of seismic concerns.

Lindsay Mitchell: The Anxiety Epidemic

Over the last twenty years the number of people depending on a benefit due to psychological or psychiatric reasons has increased by 140 percent. Meanwhile the working age population grew by just 26 percent.

In June 2006 the number dependent was 37,300. Fast forward to June 2026 and it's 89,385.

Bruce Logan: Tell me please, what is racism?

Accused of racism, Winston Peters is under the pump again.

But what is ‘racism’ and what are we saying when we accuse somebody of it?

JC: National Has Fouled Its Nest Big Time

The grossly unedifying spectacle of a failed leadership spill the National Party has just foisted upon the public is messy and stinks to high heaven; it makes Wellington’s recent problems with a large sewage spill look like a minor event. It is likely the this whole unpalatable debacle reinforces the perception among many voters that National is not fit to run the country.

David Wojick: The UN Green Climate Fund is a wasteful fraud

The UN Green Climate Fund (GCF) is neither Green nor about climate. They are mostly just doing normal foreign aid that the donor countries would be better off doing themselves. They have received and spent over $20 billion to date, with more billions coming.

For example, they fund a lot of water supply systems in dry countries. They call it “climate change adaptation,” but it is not adaptation to climate change. It is addressing a condition that has always existed. It is fraud to call this “climate funding.” The same is true for flood protection in flood-prone areas or improving existing farms, which they also do a lot of.

Bob Edlin: Luxon speaks of “unity”.....

Luxon speaks of “unity” – but did the glue come from sacking Penk and how long will it last?

The term “United” generally means:

Clive Bibby: The misuse of kindness and other politically overused metaphors to describe our leaders

We appear to be living at a time when it is virtually impossible to rely on the political character references being sold by the party propaganda machine.

In that context, one has to wonder why our former Prime Minister, Dame Jacinda Ardern, has chosen a country other than the one she led for almost two terms in which to settle after her " flash in the pan, meteoric" political career ended so abruptly.

Alwyn Poole: This is HUGE re the outcomes of our Education system.

Myself, and others, e.g. Duncan Garner, Derek Cheng, etc – have recently highlighted that 15% of students leave of education system – after at least 13,200 funded hours – with no formal qualification.

For 2025 LEAVERS that would be 10,496 young people.

Despite what people to the esteemed level of the current Minister of Education stating – NCEA is easy to understand and clearly defined.

David Farrar: Labour promised massive tax hike on businesses

The Herald reports:

Labour will scrap National’s Investment Boost if elected – under a new plan focused on small businesses.

Investment Boost was the centrepiece of Budget 2025 and was widely promoted by the Government as an important means of attracting new investment to New Zealand. It applies to domestic and foreign investors.

Mike's Minute: Luxon had belief and came out a winner

Not for the first time have too many people read what happened yesterday completely incorrectly.

"It was over", they told us. "The numbers were done", they told us. "Tuesday night was it", they told us.

"There wasn’t a caucus meeting required". Wrong.

 Friday August 14, 2026 

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Ryan Bridge: Centrist voters will be confused so far this election

If you're a centrist, maybe softer, swing voter in this election, you're right to feel, so far at least, the whole thing's a bit of a ruse.

The left and right blocs are basically going to run campaigns against each other, rather than for something else.

How do we know this?

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Has Luxon made a mistake ruling out Opportunity?

You know what? I thought the Prime Minister was right to rule out working with Opportunity, until that One News-Verian poll. Now, I think he might have made a mistake.

I'm not 100 percent sure, but I'm starting to lean towards this being an error.

Ani O'Brien: Chris Penk took the fall, but here’s what I know.

A fledgling coup nipped in the bud.

Forget “a week’s a long time”. A day is an eternity in politics. And yet consequences can arrive with brutal speed.

This morning Chris Penk was a Cabinet minister, ranked 14th on National’s newly released party list, with responsibility for Defence, Building and Construction, Veterans, Space, the GCSB and NZSIS, as well as an associate Emergency Management portfolio. Tonight he has announced that he will not contest November’s election.

Peter Williams: National's Bad (Really Bad) Day

The PM survives another bungled coup

The National Party is a shambles with a leader and senior MPs whose egos matter more than the good of the country.

That’s the only conclusion to be drawn from the disaster that unfolded in Wellington on Wednesday, August 12.

Andi Cocroft: Forestry Slash: Who Should Set the Rules?

The Government’s decision to halt Gisborne District Council’s proposed forestry slash rules has reignited an important debate about environmental management in New Zealand. Local environmental groups have described the decision as indefensible, while the Government argues that national resource management reforms should provide a consistent framework across the country. Beneath the political debate lies a broader question: who is best placed to set environmental rules when local conditions differ so dramatically?

Colinxy: Appealing to Emotion - The Darling of the Media

If there is one informal logical fallacy that modern institutions have industrialised, weaponised, and normalised, it is the appeal to emotion (argumentum ad passiones). It is not new. The Greeks taught rhetoric precisely because they understood that human beings are not persuaded by facts, only occasionally by logic, but reliably, almost predictably, by emotion.

Two and a half millennia later, nothing has changed. What has changed is scale.

Peter Dunne: National Party leadership coup

This week's attempted National Party leadership coup quickly descended into disorganised farce. The immediate casualty was not Christopher Luxon as his Caucus detractors may have hoped, but Chris Penk. Despite his repeated denials and public pledges of loyalty to Luxon, he was widely reported to be the stalking horse for at least one of those wanting to depose the Prime Minister. However, he ended up not only failing to achieve that goal but destroying his own promising political career in the process.