Breaking Views Update: Week of 19.7.26

Wednesday July 22, 2026 

News:
Scrapping council-iwi agreements will see existing Treaty settlements relitigated - Labour
Labour says the government scrapping council agreements with local Māori will mean "a lot" of relitigating existing Treaty settlements.

The opposition party has stopped short of promising to repeal and replace the legislation, instead vowing to produce ahead of the November election a reworked bill setting out in detail what it would change.

Kerre Woodham: A one-off payment is not going to fix the problem

I have so many questions around the Government bailout of Golden Bay Cement, which is not in fact manufactured in Golden Bay, but in Northland.

Fletcher owns the company and they said Golden Bay Cement operates New Zealand's only domestic cement manufacturing facility at Portland near Whangarei. It supplies nearly 60% of the cement used in New Zealand – about 95% of its output is sold domestically.

Dr Kelvin Kemm: Solar for the soul or for the senses

The Sun has mystified mankind for centuries. In days long gone, primitive people worshiped the Sun or a Sun God. But much more recently, in the later 1800s, people were still mystified because by then science had advanced a great deal and physicists had acquired a significant understanding of thermodynamics and energy. They knew that thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, and it can only be converted to another form. They also knew how to calculate the heat emitted from burning coal, wood, or anything else.

Mike's Minute: So many questions around the Govt's cement bailout

Nicola Willis told us she did not take the decision lightly, and well, she might have said that.

She's lucky it's only cost $60 million. We still don’t know the terms, but we need to.

This is Golden Bay Cement, and the Government has come to their rescue.

Andy Burnham becomes prime minister.......

Andy Burnham becomes prime minister after Keir Starmer leaves Downing Street for the last time

After being named leader of the Labour party, Andy Burnham has officially become prime minister of the UK. That many people considered this day an inevitability doesn’t make it any less momentous.

Kevin: What Does This Change?

Consent has always been problematic and what is being proposed isn’t going to change that.

National is promising to modernise laws on sexual consent, saying there must be consent before sex every time, rather than assuming it has been given.

The party says if it is re-elected, it will ensure that consent is actively given, meaning there must be a “yes” rather than the absence of a “no”.

David Harvey: Searching in the Dark

How three government agencies are ignoring twenty years of e-discovery technology — and using their own backwardness against OIA requesters

Preface

In an article published in the New Zealand Herald in February 2026 I considered the operation of the Official Information Act. I observed that avoidance strategies persist: repeated requests for “clarification” that reset statutory clocks, fragmented record-keeping, and opaque decision-making. The cumulative effect is delay, frustration, and diminished public confidence. I also noted that most records are now electronic, searchable, and capable of rapid review using modern tools, including AI-assisted search and e-discovery techniques. Claims that requests are unduly burdensome because they involve hundreds of documents ring hollow when compared to contemporary information-management capabilities. Indeed, the digital paradigm should have made compliance easier, not harder.

David Farrar: Ban social media or smartphones for under 16s?

Stuff reports:

ACT leader David Seymour is pondering introducing a ban on children having their own smartphones.

The National Party is trying to ban kids from social media, but its coalition partners – including ACT – have indicated they won’t support that move. Instead, Seymour is now suggesting a different ban to solve the issue.

Peter Williams: Seriously 1 News ?

Money triumphs over editorial sense

In the immortal words of tennis legend John McEnroe: “You cannot be serious.”

Whatever slight remaining credibility 1 News might have had as a genuine, unbiased, commercially neutral news organisation disappeared completely tonight (July20) because they did not lead their bulletin with one of the great moments in New Zealand sporting history.

Tuesday July 21, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The fun outweighed the controversies at the World Cup

Well, I think we can probably call it: in the end, no one cared enough about the controversies at the Football World Cup. We all just had a really good time watching it.

Anyone hoping, and there were definitely people hoping, that this would be the World Cup where the corruption would finally be too much, the controversies would finally be too much, and something would be done about it, will be horribly disappointed.

Chris Bishop, Simon Court: Better planning for growth and environment

"Alongside the Committee's recommendations, the Government has agreed further amendments to the legislation.

"One of those changes relates to Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements.

“The Bills as introduced provide that Mana Whakahono ā Rohe that existed or had been initiated prior to the Bills being enacted would transfer into the new system, but that there would be no provision for new ones.

Pee Kay: National… the Enemy Within? (Part Three)

PART THREE: The Luxon Years, The Future, the Battle for New Zealand’s Democracy

On reflection, what made us think Christopher Luxon would be any different from the long line of previous National Prime Ministers who simply failed to hold our democracy dear?

The answer is simple, desperation.

Following six horrific years of the Ardern/Hipkins Labour governments, we were desperate for change. When Luxon looked us in the eye and stated, “We are one country, we deliver our public services to people on the basis of need, not ethnicity,” and “We are all equal under the law,” we believed him!

Kerre Woodham: Will we see the return from NZ First's proposal?

New Zealand First had its own little party on the weekend. It's going to campaign on funding a $1 billion survey of offshore oil and gas reserves that it says would lead to the country owning its own supply and reducing power prices. Hello, 1972!

However, it is unclear how many years it would take for Kiwis to feel the benefits, if any, as Winston said it was expected it could take six years just to establish a pathway forward.

Bruce Cotterill: Why Paul Henry’s Act leap is good for politics

I never thought I would say this. But Paul Henry’s right.

I used to be a fan of Paul Henry, the broadcaster. He’s bright, articulate and entertaining. But then he got a bit silly, and I moved on. This week he restored my interest.

JC: A Lesson Luxon Has To Learn

Christopher Luxon is not your consummate politician. Not by a long shot. And politics is nothing like running a business. The National Party, or indeed the coalition, is not Unilever. The MPs representing ACT and NZ First are not Luxon’s staff. They are more like suppliers adding products (ideas) to help sustain his business (government) and keep it profitable (in power). Unlike business, which vies with competitors for market share, in politics it can be an accommodation with competitors (ACT and NZ First) that attains and keeps the market share (percentage of votes). Luxon has failed to discern the difference.

Rodney Hide: New Zealand First’s Epic U-Turn on Oil and Gas

Winston Peters and Shane Jones have executed one of the most shameless policy pirouettes in modern New Zealand politics. From enforced supporters of Jacinda Ardern’s offshore oil and gas exploration ban to self-appointed champions promising a $1 billion taxpayer-funded drill-baby-drill bonanza, NZ First has shown once again that principle is negotiable when the baubles of office are on the table.

Ryan Bridge: A billion-dollar Gamble on oil

New Zealand First wants to spend a billion bucks looking for oil and gas fields to make our country rich again.

Well, richer.

A bit more like the place our kids go to earn a living, Australia, who've pulled in $430 billion in mining royalties over the past decade alone.

Colinxy: What Have the Left Ever Done for Us?

A Guided Tour Through a Meme, a Myth, and a Manufactured History

A meme has been making the rounds on social media — a Left‑wing riff on Life of Brian’s famous “What have the Romans ever done for us?” sketch. The structure is familiar:

Mike Grimshaw: Getting MMP to work

While MMP was meant to provide more diversity of parties and peoples represented in parliament, the question is whether it has really succeeded in breaking the old two-party bloc faction as it promised to do?

Was the last time when MMP acted as it could when the John Key National Party invited the Māori party to effectively cross the floor and join the government?

But would any party consider doing so today…in either political direction?