NZCPR Newsletter: Budget 2026

“This is a budget that should have been delivered in year one of the Coalition’s term”, according to Economist Cameron Bagrie. He says the if the fiscal discipline shown in Budget 2026 had been applied back then, the outcome would have been paying dividends in the lead up to this year’s election.

Without a doubt, election year budgets can make or break the chances of re-election for governing parties that are struggling in the polls.

John Raine: Our Culture - Can National Learn from Australia or the UK in Election Year?

The British Labour Party reacted with disbelief to the massive voter shift to the Reform Party in the early May Local Council elections, but the Labour response has been an astonishing doubling down on the existing policy positions (“we need to tell our story better”) that alienated their traditional voter base.

Clive Bibby: There is a price for sovereignty - and we don’t have much left to spend

Previous governments of all colours have from time to time waxed lyrical about the importance of maintaining independent foreign policies in the modern world.

No longer are we so tied to the UK for our very survival that there was no need to be thinking about alternative trading partners - she took everything we could produce and paid us handsomely for the privilege.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Hegseth's comments shouldn't upset New Zealand

I don't think anyone should be offended by Pete Hegseth saying that New Zealand is freeloading off the American military.

This is not a controversial thing at all to say. The Australians have been privately complaining about us sponging off them for decades – they've urged us to lift our spend to 2% of GDP for decades.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 31.5.26

Wednesday June 3, 2026 

News:
Government to remove voting rights from iwi representatives on council
The Government is removing voting rights for non-elected representatives on councils following questions raised over iwi representatives on the Far North district council.

In April, Far North councillors voted to uphold the voting rights of iwi representatives on its Te Kuaka Māori Strategic Relationships Committee.

The Government has stepped in over the top to effectively remove the right of councils to do so.

David Farrar: $600k on a website for a building!

The Post reports:

A glitzy website launched to celebrate the opening of Wellington’s refurbished central library building Te Matapihi cost nearly $600,000, pushing the costs associated with the library opening to more than $800,000.

It was also developed and built by an Auckland company and has been denounced by one councillor as “gold-plated promotional spending”.

Bob Edlin: ZB apology and musings about Mike....

ZB apology and musings about Mike – could he be jailed for protecting sources he does not have?

The Post reported a few days ago:

Newstalk ZB has apologised to a National MP accused on live radio of leaking to the media against Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

Gary Judd KC: Inclusion of UNDRIP in India FreeTrade Agreement

Oral submissions to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee

This morning I made oral submissions. I had 5 minutes to support my own submission (Part 1). I received instructions from Hobsons Pledge and had 10 minutes to present on its behalf (Part 2). Below are the notes I used. There were no questions after Part 1, but there were questions after Part 2 from the chairman National MP Tim van de Molen, and from ACT MP Laura McClure.

Guest Post: The Greatest Scam in The History of NZ

Guest Post by Bill Chambers on No Minister

There are hundreds of preferential “provisions” along with 96 Acts of Parliament favouring Maori over all other New Zealanders. So, you must surely be asking yourself how fair is that … and WHY would such a blatant apartheid regime have ever been allowed to come about.

Well, this country has been taken down by the biggest fraudulent scam ever known. Due entirely to the fact that Activists are inherently greedy.

Roger Partridge: Lord Cooke’s Indictment

The debate about New Zealand’s Supreme Court has been framed as a question about the current court – its composition, its appointments, its judicial philosophy. This column frames it differently: as a question about what the current court inherited, and from whom. The methodology that produced Ellis has a father. His name is Robin Brunskill Cooke.

Bob Edlin: Yes, CAB will have to cut its services.....

Yes, CAB will have to cut its services, but does it begrudge the capital the benefits that flow from blessing ceremonies?

A picture of Wellington Mayor Andrew Little, splendidly decked out with his chain of office and brandishing his trusty rate-trimming scissors, features today on The Post’s page of letters to the editor.

The picture illustrates a grouch from a reader about the extravagance – extravagances, if you care to include all library costs and the functions to open the city’s new library – about a blessing ceremony.

David Farrar: Of course GP wait times will skyrocket under Labour

The Post reports:

Labour’s Dr Ayesha Verrall is adamant that her fees-free GP policy will not overwhelm clinics, despite featuring no commitment to fund the training of more doctors.

The policy has faced sustained criticism from Health Minister Simeon Brown, who says the free visits would increase demand on GP clinics without any plan to increase the number of doctors.

David Farrar: Which language should be used first?

I am a fan of agencies having both English and te reo names. I am not a fan of agencies only using their te reo name as happened under the last Government.

If an agency (or their website) uses both English and te reo, which should be the primary language? Well, let’s look at the census data:

Tuesday June 2, 2026 

                   ⇩

Chris Lynch: Unelected council members to lose voting powers

The Government has moved to stop unelected appointees from voting on council committees, saying decision making should rest with representatives chosen by voters.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts announced changes to the Local Government Act 2002 that would mean voting rights on council committees would be made only for elected councillors.

Graeme Spencer: If Radio Spectrum Is Taonga, What Isn't?

In 2022 Labour "gifted" 20% of the 5GL spectrum to Maori - not a treaty settlement - a "gift" - along with this gift, $75 million was provided to establish and support the entity (Kāhui Whakaata - the Māori Spectrum Entity) during its formative years.

For years, the spectrum was treated as a national resource - Governments licensed or auctioned it to telecommunications companies, who paid for the right to use specific frequency bands. It was largely an administrative process, and the associated revenue would have benefited all New Zealanders.

John McLean: Hipkin's policy silence doesn't matter

Why the Labour Leader’s failure to disclose policy is irrelevant

Much has been made of Chris Hipkins not disclosing Labour Party policy positions in the lead-up to the November 2026 general election.

Hipkins’ ostensible reason for not (yet?) announcing policy is that he wanted to wait until after the Government delivered its budget on 28 May. He hints that he may begin to announce Labour policies in June.

Pee Kay: This is only the tip of a very large iceberg!

Have you ever heard of Oranga Marae? No?

Despite the name, it is not actually a physical place.

Oranga Marae is a government fund dedicated entirely to upgrading, rebuilding, and maintaining marae across New Zealand. It operates as a joint Crown investment programme between Te Puni Kokiri (Ministry of Māori Development) and the Department of Internal Affairs. The Oranga Marae programme claims to offer the advice and funding needed to sustain both physical marae structures and their cultural heritage.

With all that in mind, isn’t the question – Why?

Damien Grant: Buckle up, the future is going to be magical and terrifying

Predictions are tricky. In 1943 the chairman of IBM speculated the world would have a demand for, maybe, five computers. Al Gore declared there would be no snow on Mt Kilimanjaro by 2016. Thomas Edison famously stated that the “…baby of the 21st century will be rocked in a steel cradle”. The inventor of the light bulb didn’t foresee the rise of plastics.

I have a fraction of the insight of these great minds and insufficient wisdom or humility to prevent me from joining them in making absurdly incorrect predictions. Buckle up.

Melanie Phillips: War against Israel targets the British Museum

Historical truths backed up by ancient artefacts are pitted against a lethal echo chamber

Fury has exploded among prominent British Jews and others over the decision by the British Museum in London to postpone a lecture that was scheduled to be given this week.