Breaking Views Update: Week of 19.7.26

Friday July 24, 2026 

News:
ECan prioritises ‘enduring’ Treaty partnerships
Canterbury’s regional council says it will continue to work with mana whenua as it prepares its Long Term Plan, despite looming law changes and an uncertain future.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) deputy chairperson Iaean Cranwell says being ‘‘a Te Tiriti partner of excellence’’ is a top priority for its new strategic direction document.

Mike's Minute: We aren't prepared to pay the climate price

Almost on cue, the Climate Commission has entered this week's climate debate and told us we are at risk of missing our targets.

This isn't to do with Golden Bay Cement specifically. It's generally about the fact that we have mucked about with rules and promises and things slowed down to a point they have decided we need to "crack on".

Gravedodger: Why has the near Monopoly failed?

Because National has decided to tax cement production to the point it is uneconomic to make, while sending billions to god only knows where via Paris!

Aaand Christopher Luxsout still holds to the now so widely demolished fallacy the world can slow and stop gradual cyclical warming of the third rock from the sun where a nuclear reactor is generating heat. Dear old Luxout will cripple New Zealand then watch in wonderment while Peters and CHipkins set about continuing to divide and impoverish this Nation.

Peter Williams: Swarbrick and her unchallenged claims

If we don't reach climate targets it doesn't matter

Chloe Swarbrick makes ridiculous and outrageous statements, most of which go unchallenged by a sympathetic media.

Here’s the latest nonsense.

Lindsay Mitchell: Christians electioneering

A report from the Chief Executive of the NZ Council of Christian Social Services has made some headlines this morning. It's called Kua Mahue/ Left Behind: Poverty in Aotearoa in 2026

Erica Stanford: Calmer, quieter classrooms - as walls go up

Nearly 200 schools have begun the process of replacing open-plan classrooms with enclosed learning spaces to create quieter, calmer spaces more suited for learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford announced today.

“When I began visiting schools, teachers consistently told me how difficult it was to teach in open-plan classrooms, and parents also raised strong concerns.

Kerre Woodham: It's up to you to make sure you can vote

The changes to the way we vote. Voters will no longer be able to rock up on election day and register to vote thanks to a law change made last year, and Chris Hipkins isn't happy. The Labour Leader says the Electoral Commission isn't doing enough to make sure New Zealanders are enrolled to vote, and he's concerned that people will turn up on Election Day and find that their votes won't be counted because they're not on the electoral roll. In the past, they could see all the flags, think, “Oh, what's that all about?", wander into a voting station, “Oh, I'm not on the... Oh, I'd quite like to vote, I'm not on the roll." “No worries," the nice people at the voting stations would say. “We'll sign you up." So they'd be signed up, they'd be able to vote, and their vote would then be counted as a special vote.

David Farrar: Pathetic

The Herald reports:

Officials warned the Government that its move to put the English name before the Māori name in its official branding could cause “material harm” to the Crown-Māori relationship.

The branding was officially updated in May, putting “New Zealand Government” before “Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa”.

David Farrar: Inflation hits 4.1% due to fuel crisis

Stats NZ reports:

New Zealand’s consumers price index (CPI) increased 4.1 percent in the 12 months to the June 2026 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.

The largest upwards contributor to the annual inflation rate was petrol, up 27.5 percent.

 Thursday July 23, 2026 

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Geoff Parker: Mana Whakahono ā Rohe - The Power Behind the Process

In a recent opinion piece, New Plymouth District Councillor Dinnie Moeahu defends Mana Whakahono ā Rohe (MWaR) by dismissing critics as victims of "myths" and "political slogans". He argues that because MWaR agreements under Sections 58L–58U of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) are categorised as "participation agreements", they do not transfer statutory authority, create co-governance, or establish a veto.

This defence relies heavily on semantics. In public policy and administrative law, controlling the process can significantly influence the outcome.

Ian Bradford: UN Global Roadmap sets out how food and farming must transform

According to the UN, food production is a major contributor to climate change and biodiversity loss, and is deeply vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. But until recently, the UN has not set out in detail how the world can reduce global greenhouse gases to net zero while ensuring a growing population can meet its nutritional needs.

Mike's Minute: I don't blame Hipkins for having a crack, but tell him he's dreaming

I don’t blame Hipkins for having a crack, but tell him he's dreaming.

Having closed, or at least announced they are closing off, the absurd deals between local councils and Māori, once they get the new RMA laws up Hipkins suggests that this will lead to a lot of renegotiation of Treaty settlements.

It will do no such thing.

Philip Leith: Climate Scientists Clearly Don’t Believe Their Own Tales of Doom

To be referred to as a scientist suggests that someone has studied science, passed exams relevant to their subject and continued to work, exploring that particular field. Most people would consider a scientist as an intelligent human being.

Climate scientists are constantly warning us that if the global level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions is not cut the world will suffer badly.

Ryan Bridge: The price of being a climate warrior

Chris Hipkins is floating the idea of an effective tariff on imported cement.

He reckons it could be a better way of dealing with our cement problem than $60-million in corporate welfare.

Richard Shaw: NZ’s political ‘centre’ is an electoral strategy, not a set of beliefs

Most of us use an imaginary two-dimensional spectrum to chart the positions of political parties, generally based on the fundamental issue of the relationship between the state and private enterprise.

Parties of the left tip towards a greater role for government, while those on the right favour free markets and lower taxes.

Colinxy: The Origins of Equality - A Genealogy of an Idea That Took Millennia to Mature

Equality is one of those concepts that modern politics treats as self‑evident, universal, and morally compulsory. Yet the road to equality is anything but straightforward. It took thousands of years for the idea to even form, let alone become politically actionable. And even today, we fight over what equality means: equality of opportunity versus equality of outcomes (now rebranded as equity). For readers wanting the deeper dive into that modern conflict, see my earlier piece: The Equalities: Merit, Marxism, and the War Over Fairness.

Andrew Moran: Trump Leading a New World Order of Oil Markets

The fallout from the Iranian conflict has resulted in a new world order in oil markets. Prior to the war in the Middle East, multiple factors significantly influenced a sizable share of international energy, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Almost five months later, it appears these dynamics are shifting, as the United States has lit the match that will blow up the current arrangement.

Overhauling Oil Markets

Dr Oliver Hartwich: New Zealand by Comparison

Two weeks ago, New Zealand by Numbers asked whether New Zealand was improving. Our latest report asks a harder question: is it keeping up?

New Zealand by Comparison, edited by Dr Oliver Hartwich and Dr Bryce Wilkinson, measures New Zealand against 28 other countries across more than a hundred indicators, from work and prosperity to health, institutions and the environment.

Among this group, New Zealand ranks first for labour force participation, second for economic freedom, fourth for honesty in government and eighth for life satisfaction, ahead of Germany, Britain and the United States.

Dr Eric Crampton: Supermarket Competition

Is the reason we don’t have enough supermarket competition because councils have banned new ones?

When the Commerce Commission was looking into retail grocery competition, my shop urged the Commission to check on something important.

As best we could tell, it would be effectively impossible for a new large-format supermarket chain to open in New Zealand. Cities had not zoned enough space for full-sized grocery stores. So, anyone wanting to open a set of stores up and down the country would have enormous difficulty finding viable sites with the right zoning.