Mike's Minute: There are lessons for us to learn from this war

Do you think we will learn some lessons or change our mind now that the war is essentially over?

Do we need to be more oil independent or, overall, is the way we do it for good reason i.e. it's cheaper to buy refined product?

Do we need to seek out new markets for products that have previously been brought blindly through the Strait, like plastics and gases?

Ani O'Brien: The Strait of Hormuz, Trump, and the end of Pretend Peace

The world held its breath today. The Leader of the “Free World” had threatened that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” and everyone seemed to take this very literally. And understandably so! This kind of rhetoric is not something we are used to from Western leaders. In the West we do diplomacy and handshakes and express disapproval. Well, we have in the years since the World Wars (with a few notable exceptions).

Brendan O'Neill: So Iran’s civilisation is safe. Now what about the West’s?

For all his digital bluster, it isn’t Trump who threatens to unravel our civilisation – it’s his influential haters.

Imagine calling for the destruction of a civilisation. Imagine dreaming about violently scrubbing an ancient nation from the face of the Earth. Imagine flirting with the idea of obliterating a land with thousands of years of rich history. I am referring, of course, to the activist class and its annihilationist hatred for the Jewish State. For nearly three years, these people have beat the streets and swarmed the digital networks to agitate for the erasure of Israel, all the way ‘from the river to the sea’. President Trump’s juvenile bluster on Iran has nothing on their existential loathing for the Jewish homeland.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Who runs the country? Restoring democratic control of New Zealand's public service

New Zealand’s ministers answer to Parliament for departments they cannot control. They cannot choose, direct or remove the chief executives who run those departments. The Public Service Commissioner makes those appointments.

The New Zealand Initiative argues this arrangement is broken. It recommends that New Zealand adopt a version of Germany’s model, where ministers appoint their top officials while a protected career service operates below.

Bob Edlin: Come on, Prime Minister – can’t you drum into the media your focus on merit, not race?

The headlines below illustrate the mainstream media’s fixation with the idea that Maori are getting a raw deal. The implication is that more of them should be Cabinet ministers.

Two of the news reports were generated by our hapless PM’s falling into a trap set by a broadcaster who aimed to embarrass him rather than glean information on behalf of her audience. She succeeded.

Alwyn Poole: Just How Bad NZ’s Productivity is!

Last week I posted on how problematic the size of NZ government is.

Duncan Garner picked up on it here – and also interviewed David Seymour on it. Seymour seemed unusually tepid on bringing about smaller government – even going with the “at least we are not Labour” type statement.

I mentioned that the Public Sector is “crowding-out” the Private Sector and making genuine economic growth extremenely difficult. Treasury notes this:

David Farrar: Outrageous salary

The Post reports:

The head of an investment fund which is being shut down by the Government has been on an annual salary of nearly $1 million paid by the public purse, which the climate change minister says is “hard to justify”.

Green Investment Finance was established under the previous government to support investments in emissions-reducing ventures, but in April last year it was announced it would be wound up in April last year after anger among ministers over the fund’s failed investment in rooftop solar installer SolarZero.

David Farrar: The future for NZ?

CTV reports:

The head of Canada’s largest airline has been summoned to Ottawa to explain why he spoke only in English when he offered his condolences to the families of those killed or hurt in the collision between a plane and a fire truck at a New York City airport on Sunday.

Thursday April 9, 2026 

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Karl du Fresne: Luxon still hasn’t got the hang of politics

“I’m not going to play that game,” Christopher Luxon said – rather lamely – when Tova O’Brien asked him how many Maori National MPs were in his cabinet.  

“It’s not a game,” countered O’Brien, doubtless trying hard to conceal her glee at having so easily caught the prime minister out.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 5.4.26

Thursday April 9, 2026 

News:
Pioneering School of Business opens at Waitākere College to empower West Auckland rangatahi
In a landmark move for vocational education in the region, Waitākere College has officially established its first-ever School of Business, designed to bridge the gap between secondary education and the corporate world for local rangatahi.

David Harvey: Justice Should Be Seen By All - A Sequel

Why Courts Chose Bluesky to Notify Decisions of Public Interest

On 27 March I wrote an article querying why the Courts of New Zealand had decided to abandon X in favour of Bluesky as a means of disseminating information about the release of decision of the Courts that were of public interest.

One of my criticisms of the move was that no reasons had been given for the move. It appeared to be a shift from a platform where there was a wide following to one that was something of a niche, “progressive” bent.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - The OIA at the crossroads

The Government is reviewing the Official Information Act behind closed doors. Most readers will immediately grasp the irony.

This review of the OIA wasn’t announced. It wasn’t publicised. It came to light because transparency advocate Andrew Ecclestone happened to be told about it, then revealed it to attendees at a parliamentary forum on democracy last month.

JC: TPU/Curia Poll Says It All

The points I outlined in my last article regarding the National Party’s poor poll numbers appear to have been borne out in the latest Taxpayers Union/Curia poll released on Tuesday. National has once again failed to crack the 30 per cent mark. Admittedly the 29.8 per cent number (up 1.4 per cent from the previous TPU/Curia poll) is up from the 26.5 per cent in last week’s Roy Morgan poll. However the inescapable fact is these numbers reflect poorly on the senior party in a government coalition. While not wishing to regurgitate the points made in Tuesday’s article, they are nonetheless relevant to this poll. National definitely needs a rethink in terms of the direction of its future travel.

Pee Kay: When pressure builds, Politicians react

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a 17th century Swiss writer and philosopher wrote – “Those who desire to treat politics and morals separately will never understand anything of either.”

You would have to agree wouldn’t you. The practice of politics must be reconciled with the imperatives of honesty and integrity. But is that possible in todays political world?

Colinxy: Revolution in Uniform - How the NZ Army Became a Vehicle for Ideological Transformation

Introduction: When the Army Starts Talking Like a University Department

Michael Laws’ recent commentary on The Platform has struck a nerve — and rightly so. When senior NZ Army officers begin speaking in the language of “transformation,” “bicultural realignment,” and “intergenerational change,” we are no longer dealing with military doctrine. We are dealing with ideology.

And not just any ideology. This is the vocabulary of Critical Theory, Critical Indigenous Theory, and the Te Tiriti–centred transformation agenda that has swept through the public sector since 2019.

The Army is simply the latest institution to be captured.

Elliott Ikilei: It is worse than you think - Far North Council has been taken over

Things are going badly wrong in the Far North, and the Government is choosing to sit on its hands and let it happen. We have to take action now.

A sitting councillor, Davina Smolders has come forward in an interview with Duncan Garner on his podcast and described what is happening inside the Far North District Council. This is no petty disagreement over policy. It is a fundamental shift in who is exercising power and the complete overriding of democracy.

Mike's Minute: Let's take a proper look at the polls

For what it's worth, let me have a crack at the latest Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll.

Firstly, officially, I pay no attention to them other than a broad theme i.e. a collection of polls and an overarching trend.

The trend continues in this latest poll with the Government being re-elected by a fairly heavy margin, 65 seats to 55.

David Farrar: More taxpayer funded lobbying

The Taxpayers’ Union released:

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act request that the Ministry for Ethnic Communities funded $30,000 for Asturlab Cultural Centre to run a nationwide advocacy campaign, using taxpayer funds to promote pro-Palestinian narratives on the conflict in Gaza.

The campaign was a political lobbying campaign encouraging people to lobby the PM and MPs on this issue. I’m all for NGOs lobbying using their own money, but here we have bureaucrats handing out money to NGOs to lobby the Government on a highly contested political issue.

David Farrar: Another charity scandal

Bryce Edwards writes:

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.

And yet, almost nobody else in New Zealand media or politics has said a word about it.