Breaking Views Update: Week of 28.6.26

Sunday June 28, 2026 

News:
Government Commits $8.6m To Build New Plymouth’s First City Marae In More Than 150 Years
The Government will invest up to $8.6 million to help build a new marae in central New Plymouth, ending more than 150 years without a marae for Ngāti Te Whiti in its own rohe.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 27 June 2026

Greens co-leader attempted actual economic treachery

A story that should have received far more attention this week was Chloe Swarbrick’s extraordinary decision to take her domestic political grievances offshore. The Green Party co-leader wrote (along with Belgian Green MEP Saskia Bricmont) to the European Commission, suggesting New Zealand’s methane target changes may breach our trade deal with the EU and calling for an independent investigation. In other words, she invited foreign trade officials to scrutinise New Zealand’s democratically chosen domestic policy settings because she disagrees with them in the hopes they would punish us economically.

Craig Rucker: The coming nuclear renaissance is small — and mighty

Small modular reactors are a key component for keeping our power grid bright.

Dr. Kelvin Kemm is a brilliant South African nuclear physicist and longtime dear friend of CFACT’s.

As Kelvin writes at CFACT.org:

Guest Post: Luxon’s silence on Te Tiriti o’ Waitangi is undemocratic and deafening in 2026

Guest Post by William Ludbrook on Brash & Mitchell

Why is te Tiriti o’ Waitangi such a divisive issue?

In April 2025 Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promulgated: “I have been talking to iwi leaders for the past 12 months”

And?– so?– no reasonable New Zealander would object to that. The problem is not that Luxon “had been talking to iwi leaders” The problem is that iwi leaders increasingly infer they are in a privileged position in shaping Government Policy. The National Iwi Chairs Forum requested a meeting after objecting to the government’s review of Treaty clauses throughout legislation. Their complaint was that they had not been sufficiently consulted before Cabinet considered reforms?

Richard Prebble: Why We Cannot Talk About Climate Change

I recently posted an article about New Zealand's carbon market.

It asked whether the Government should fix the carbon price or continue auctioning carbon credits.

That was the debate I hoped to have.

Lushington Brady: This Is Your Future, New Zealand

Do you think minorities will ease up on the demands when they become the majority?

Imagine if 81 million New Zealanders upped stakes and moved to Mumbai and Delhi, and then started issuing ultimatums to the Indian government. Imagine if 78 million Kiwis landed in Beijing and Shanghai and started demanding special laws from the Chinese government – or else. How do you think the Indians or Chinese would react? There’d be a non-stop string of flights to Auckland International, repatriating those uppity Kiwis right back where they came from. That’s if they were lucky enough to not end up in a concentration camp in Xinjiang.

Ignore the fact that, of course, there aren’t 78 or 81 million New Zealanders: the point of this hypothetical is to put into relative terms the sheer, overwhelming scale of the twin butter-chicken-and-fried-rice tsunamis which have swamped New Zealand in recent years.

JC: How Can the Left Improve?

The answer is – they can’t.

In many ways that’s a nonsensical question, because the answer to bringing about the changes needed are not policies the left believe in. I will give you examples. The first is the fact that they have removed themselves from political reality. Their playbook restricts them from making the changes to once again become relevant. They don’t even run themselves – their outside paymasters, like the trade unions, do. “He who pays the piper calls the tune”.

Peter Dunne: The Opportunity Party

Since 1996 no new party has entered Parliament without either a sitting or former MP leading it. The Conservative Party in 2014 came close to doing so, scoring about 4% of the party vote, but ultimately failed and never attained that level of support again.

With some opinion polls currently suggesting the Opportunity Party is inching closer to the cusp of the 5% threshold that sobering reality remains a daunting challenge. As with the Conservative Party and other small parties before them, potential voters will have to be persuaded that the Opportunity Party can make a difference, and that therefore a vote for it would not be wasted.

Kerre Woodham: The more they crack down, the better

I read the Stuff story this morning and thought, "Oh, cry me a river!" Do the student loan evaders who finally get nabbed really expect sympathy when they bleat to the media?

Stuff this morning has the story of Vic, not his real name. He was at Wellington Airport last month heading home to Australia where he's lived and worked as a medical specialist for three, how many Kerry? Three decades, 30 years, when three police officers approached. He was arrested, spent three nights in custody, and at a court hearing had his passport confiscated. He's still here, Stuff writes, a month later, unable to work.

Mike's Minute: The conservation discussion shows our immaturity

It's been a bad week for maturity.

Trump suggesting Meloni begged for a photo op is all that is petty and pathetic about a bloke who has bigger fish to fry.

Simeon Brown treating his business partners with verbal contempt by calling them children is not the crime of the century, but it's also not good conduct from people running countries.

But it all pales against the astonishing nonsense peddled, mainly on social media, by those opposed to these so-called conservation changes.

Saturday June 27, 2026 

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Anglo Saxon: More racism from Health New Zealand - where's the memo Minister?

The heavily Marxified Health New Zealand has been battling with Minister Simeon Brown. Another notorious job vacancy has mandated full Maori victimhood ideological indoctrination as a must have for, of all jobs a dental assistant - Health New Zealand at Wanganui Hospital Remu House Dental Clinic.

Click to view

Insights From Social Media: A Nation Undivided

A NATION UNDIVIDED

In the shadow of 1840's solemn word,
Where chiefs and Crown once forged a single path,
We stand as one beneath the Southern Cross—
Not fractured tribes, but Kiwis born of shared resolve.

Gerry Eckhoff: Realities of the Toxic Willow

When the political fog descends and obfuscates an issue such as water quality, the truth and clarity can remain hard to find. It is as though the authorities have decided that no further available evidence or action is required - so the fog remains.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Who feels sorry for the doctor arrested over student loan debt?

Right, hands up — who felt sorry for the doctor arrested at the border for not paying back his student loan?

So the details are: this chap owes almost $180,000. Yes, he admits he should have responded to IRD on the multiple occasions they tried to contact him — but he didn’t. And he says he didn’t realise how much money he owed until just recently.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 21.6.26

Saturday June 27, 2026 

News:
Govt spends millions on unprecedented Waitangi Tribunal inquiries
The Government has spent well over $4 million defending legal challenges by Māori since taking office, with the number of urgent inquiries by the Waitangi Tribunal soaring to record highs.

But critics say the real cost is the strain on the Māori-Crown relationship and a former senior National minister agrees. Māori and Government have collided on a number of issues since the coalition Government came into office in 2023.

Pee Kay: Don’t Anger the Matua. FFS!

On Monday I posted an article about politicians and their perks and privileges. I also added a footnote about Shane Jones over the top spending at a Canadian mining conference.

More information is coming to light about Jones trip.

This article, link below, if correct, exposes the level of Jones arrogance and his abuse of taxpayers funds!

Ani O'Brien: The media isn't reporting on TOP's rise, they are creating it

How the media creates political momentum

Political momentum is one of the most powerful forces in politics. Voters are heavily influenced by ‘social proof’ which is the psychological phenomenon where people copy the actions of others to validate their own behaviour. People want to support parties that appear viable and relevant. Therefore, a party that is constantly discussed in the media acquires a kind of legitimacy simply through repetition. People hear its leader interviewed, see its policies analysed, watch journalists speculate about its prospects, and begin to regard it as a serious political force. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where media attention generates awareness, awareness generates support (or opposition), support (or opposition) generates further media attention, and the party gains momentum.

Dr Eric Crampton: Guardrails for a Compulsory KiwiSaver

If re-elected, National would make KiwiSaver contributions compulsory from 2028, with employers and employees each contributing 6 percent by 2032.

 
That compulsion requires guardrails, according to a research note published today by The New Zealand Initiative's Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton.

Kerre Woodham: Is it time to take a look at our right to silence?

Far North Police say they're being met with a wall of silence nearly two months on from a hit and run that killed an 18 year old dirt bike rider. Jahkani Hamilton was found dead about 10pm between Kaikohe and Moerewa on May 1st. Police say an associate of his was found seriously injured nearby – he'd also been knocked off a dirt bike. Police are being stymied by witnesses and their supporters choosing to say nothing and actively resisting the investigation. They say the silence is hugely frustrating for the police investigators and for the boy's grieving whānau, and that their investigations are being hindered.