Mike's Minute: Is Chlöe Swarbrick a bit useless?

I wonder if it's time to ask the question – is Chlöe Swarbrick a bit useless?

In the Herald's vast poll churn that produces the chances of the current Government being re-elected at about 88%, is the real revelation that the Greens have been going backwards since the last election?

The trouble appears twofold;

Penny Marie: Five Prayers a Day - And Nobody Asked Your Permission

When cultural activity becomes religious imposition, it's time for New Zealanders to start asking hard questions.

A parent in New Zealand recently discovered that their child had been reciting prayers (karakia) to Māori gods five times a day at a standard state school. Not a kura. Not a Māori immersion school. A regular taxpayer-funded school that is, by law, supposed to be secular.

When that parent tried to have their child excused, they were made to ask - repeatedly - before being granted what should have been an obvious right from the start.

David Harvey: The Demise of the Broadcasting Standards Authority?

An announcement. But will there be action?

On 6 May 2026 the Minister for Broadcasting, Mr. Paul Goldsmith, announced that the Broadcasting Standards Authority would be disestablished.

A process had been put in place to wind down the BSA and investigate self-regulation options. There is, of course, a little more to it than that. The BSA was created by the Broadcasting Act 1989 and it is referred to in a number of statutes. There will be legislative work involved as well.

Ashley Church: Is the west really moving to the far right?

Why are voters really abandoning traditional political parties?

Election results, last week, confirmed a trend that seems to be moving across the western world: the rise of the far right.

Reform UK surged through councils across England, gaining 1,349 council seats, taking control of 14 councils, and winning mayoralties – establishing itself as a major political force and claiming territory once dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.

Guest Post: It’s Called Setting Yourself Up

A guest post on NOMINISTER by William Chambers.

The Conservation Minister, Tama Potaka, has said he is removing certain DoC land from the stewardship category to allow for future sale or exchange.

A majority of respondents during last year’s consultation opposed this. But Patoka confirmed that he is going ahead with it anyway.

Bob Edlin: Cops can move fast when armed with radar gear......

Cops can move fast when armed with radar gear, but become plods when it comes to bullying allegations

If the cops have been tardy responding to your complaint about an assault, a burglary, or what-have-you, perhaps it’s because they are busy investigating allegations against fellow cops.

David Farrar: No no no

Radio NZ reports:

A leaked report completed for the TAB NZ by racing insiders says the horse racing industry is “unsustainable” without further tax breaks.

It also recommends allowing TAB NZ to run online casinos, shifting the cost of the industry’s integrity board to the government and making structural changes including consolidating property ownership and management.

Kerre Woodham: Fees free would be nice... if it actually worked

Well, Winston let the cat out of the bag on Friday afternoon with Heather du Plessis Allan. Oh, we're scrapping fees free in the third year, he said, you'll find that in the budget.

And Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that yes indeed, the scheme will be ditched in the upcoming budget.

Those students completing their tertiary studies this year in their final year will remain eligible for fees free.

So, all well and good.

Tuesday May 12, 2026 

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NZCPR Newsletter: An Egregious Betrayal

The recent appointment of ten unelected iwi representatives with full voting rights onto a Council Committee of just six elected Councillors is a stark illustration that the tribal takeover of Local Government in New Zealand is now well underway.

Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll - May 2026

Here are the headline results for May's Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll:

Ryan Bridge: The real message in the Government's fuel plan

The most interesting thing about the fuel ration plan has nothing to do with fuel rationing.

Read the Q & A script the Minister's office provided and you quickly realise this thing will probably never see the light of day in any practical sense.

Trump would probably need to drop a nuke for us to get there.

Karl du Fresne: Mallard in Fantasyland?

I attended two sessions at the Featherston Booktown Festival on Saturday. One, on the state of the news media, was almost totally useless. I walked out before it had finished. The other, however, was not only entertaining but produced one of those “Did he just say what I thought he said?” moments from former Speaker and Labour Party minister Sir Trevor Mallard. 

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I'd like to take some credit for the end of fees-free

We’re never going to know for sure what tipped the Government into finally cutting the fees-free policy but I would like to take some credit for this show’s part in it.

We have harped on about the need to get rid of that policy for so long that it actually started to get boring, even for me.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 10.5.26

Tuesday May 12, 2026 

News:
Te Pāti Māori splits as Kapa-Kingi forms new party

Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi has announced a new political party - named after her electorate.

The MP was expelled from Te Pāti Māori last year, before the High Court ruled her suspension and expulsion was unlawful.

John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson & H.R. McMaster: The GoodFellows on the Genius of the Constitution

The latest episode of GoodFellows is a special one, as it was recorded in front of a live public audience for the first time in the show’s six-year run! Senior Fellows John Cochrane, H.R. McMaster, and Niall Ferguson, as well as moderator and Distinguished Policy Fellow Bill Whalen, convened on the stage of Hoover’s Hauck Auditorium before a full house of GoodFellows fans. 

Click HERE to watch the video or listen to the audio.

Mike's Minute: The superannuation debate has become boring

It's hard to believe that superannuation is still a “thing”.

The OECD report told us we need to bump the age.

Nicola Willis told us Friday we have to do something. The Prime Minister then goes on Newstalk ZB and tells us they will campaign, again, on bumping up the age.

We should not be here.

Philip Crump: Work, Meaning and the Long Road Home

In April 2022 Elon Musk was a major shareholder in Twitter and had become engaged in an increasingly fraught public exchange with Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal.

Twitter had just offered him a board seat.

Then Musk publicly questioned whether Twitter was dying. Agrawal pushed back, telling Musk that the criticism wasn’t helping. Musk’s reply arrived less than a minute later.

“What did you get done this week?”

JD: The Climate Mythology and Bias

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

With Chlöe Swarbrick’s ‘Watermelon Party’ in the news, pushing the current oil price shock as another reason to decarbonise before the apocalypse descends upon us, we should perhaps revisit the climate catastrophe narrative and establish its origins.

But first, for a perspective on the reality of the threat, let’s look at some of the claims that have been made and discredited since Al Gore kicked off the climate change industry in the 1980s.

Ani O'Brien: The importance of a unifying story

Why New Zealand's lack of national narrative keeps me up at night

New Zealand is often described, with a kind of nostalgia, as a small country that functions much like a small town. No one is a stranger and everyone knows everyone. A nation that prides itself on pragmatism over ideology, on fairness over factionalism, and on a belief that despite differences, there exists a common civic identity. Yet that story, never perfect but once broadly shared, has begun to fracture. In its place, a more brittle narrative has emerged. One that increasingly divides the country into competing communities, often framed along Māori and non-Māori lines, each with its own account of history, justice, and entitlement.