Dr Michael Johnston: Stay the course with maths reforms

The Reserve Bank adjusts interest rates to keep inflation under control. This does not work with perfect precision, but it works. There is one measure, one lever and a well-understood relationship between the two.

Not every policy goal is like that. Education Minister Erica Stanford took office promising to reverse a decades-long decline in New Zealand school education, especially in literacy and mathematics.

Kerre Woodham: That wasn't a family gathering, that was campaigning

The gangs, as we know, create wholesale damage and destruction in our society through their drug trafficking. Now it looks like they're causing wholesale damage to Labour.

After roundly criticising members of the Greens and Te Pati Māori for visiting a mongrel mob gang pad and posing for photos, putting it on your social media, Labour leader Chris Hipkins ruled out his coalition partners holding the justice or police portfolios in any government he was in charge of. He was talking tough. Now it transpires one of his own MPs was campaigning with gang members, with a video circulating of Kerrin Leoni in a Labour jacket handing out Labour Party flyers to mobsters.

LilBaP: The Five Demands for Opportunity’s Bottom Lines

Guest Post on GoodOil by LilBaP

Opportunity has published five policies it calls non-negotiable. The five are short. They name problems most households already recognise. They contain almost no numbers, definitions, legal instruments, costs or transition rules. Any partner must accept them before the party will support a government.

The party’s larger policy platform – a 1.75 per cent annual tax on urban land (0.5 on rural), a Citizen’s Income of roughly $19,400 a year for most adults, compulsory KiwiSaver contributions rising toward a combined 12 per cent and Citizens’ Assemblies of randomly selected people to whose recommendations a government must answer – has drawn resistance.

Bob Edlin: Reserve land gift, a $200,000 rift.....

....and when the Mayor was miffed, a councillor was given short shrift

Good questions were raised at a Rotorua Lakes Council meeting this week about the proposed surrender of more than $200,000 in annual lease revenue.

But some questions are best not asked – at least, not when Mayor Tania Tapsell is chairing a meeting.

Sunday October 25, 2026 

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Richard Prebble: Grievance Politics

It will outrage supporters of Te Pāti Māori and New Zealand First, but their parties are remarkably similar.

Both are grievance parties.

Both are led by politicians who specialise in outrage.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Cost of living crisis won’t be solved by subsidising prices

Voters are rightly worried about the cost of living. How can they balance the household budget? Should they move to Australia?

It is a nationwide issue. After allowing for inflation, population growth and seasonal effects, real national disposable income per person fell 4.3 percent from the September quarter 2022 to the September quarter 2024. A modest subsequent rise has reduced this decline to 1.5 percent.

If you are feeling harder up now than in the second half of 2022, you are not alone. If you are not, you should feel fortunate.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 25.10.26

Sunday October 25, 2026 

News:
Te Puia unveils new waharoa to mark 100 years of Māori arts protection
A new waharoa stands at Te Puia this week, unveiled at dawn in front of hundreds to mark 100 years since the passage of the Māori Arts and Crafts Act 1926. Positioned within Rotorua’s geothermal valley at Whakarewarewa, the gateway pays tribute to a century of preserving traditional arts and culture.

Ian Bradford: The horrendous cost of getting to Net Zero in the UK and in NZ

Net Zero in the UK

In the UK it’s all about Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The cost of installing and operating CCS could reach a staggering £408 billion by 2050. In NZ Dollars this is $963,124,800,000. The reason for such a cost is put down to the technology being risky and technologically unproven. 

Geoff Parker: The Dog Tax War — Or Another Māori History Fairy Tale?

RNZ's treatment of the 1898 Hokianga “Dog Tax War” fits neatly into today's preferred colonial narrative: RNZ's treatment of the 1898 Hokianga “Dog Tax War” fits neatly into today's preferred colonial narrative: Māori were subjected to an oppressive colonial regime, the dog tax became the final outrage, and an armed confrontation with the colonial authorities was the inevitable result.

But before accepting that version, it is worth looking at what the law actually said - and at the wider issues surrounding the dispute.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time - 24 October 2026

Halt! Enrol first.

Before we get into anything else, please check that you are enrolled to vote, and that your details are correct. The deadline is midnight tomorrow, Sunday 25 October. If you have moved, check your address. You cannot leave enrolling until you turn up to vote this year. vote.nz

Snitching pays, Labour candidate resigns, Chippy gets tearful

Timothy Welch: The next government faces transport tests that new roads or cheap fares won’t solve

In an election campaign, not all transport spending is talked about in the same way. A new motorway might be presented as an investment in the economy, while subsidising public transport can stir debate about the cost to taxpayers.

This election is no different. National is promising more major roads, while Labour and the Greens are pledging public transport fare caps, among other measures. The latter proposals have already attracted scrutiny over how they’d be paid for.

JC: It Will Be Right on the Night

It is the right who will be popping the champagne corks on November 7th.

Mike Hosking says the election will be decided within an hour of the polls closing – a win for the right. Michael Laws is in no doubt which way the election will go – a win for the right. Bob McCoskrie of Family First, in pointing out the many flaws, predictions and twisted reasoning of the left wing media, is effectively indicating which way the election will go – a win for the right. This, as in 2023, will be for the left and their cheerleaders in the media, the worst nightmare come true. Once again they will have to accept that their specious jabbering has been for nothing. They will know that the pattern of the last election has been repeated in that the majority ignored their blather.

Nicholas Kerr: It’s Time to Give New Zealanders the Freedom to Turn Left on Red

One of the small pleasures of driving in America is something most Americans probably take for granted: the ability to turn right at a red traffic light.

Provided you come to a complete stop, check for pedestrians and other traffic, and proceed only when it’s safe, you don’t have to sit waiting for the light to turn green.

It’s a remarkably sensible rule. And every time I return to New Zealand, I’m reminded that Kiwis don’t enjoy the equivalent freedom to turn left on red.

Richard Prebble: Opportunity to opportunistic

All parties disappoint. National used to stand for property rights. Labour has abandoned taxing landlords. The Greens have gone from environmentalists to socialists. Sir Roger Douglas campaigned for zero income tax. ACT now says the country cannot afford a tax cut.

But no party has ever abandoned its founding principles faster or more completely than Opportunity.

David Farrar: The Law Society has a problem

I blogged in March about an outrageous decision by a Law Society Standards Committee decision which fined Stephen Franks and Franks Ogilvy for the sin of “being lawyers”. I wrote:

The Legal Complaints Review Officer overturned the decision, noting:

Rodney Hide: Hipkins sets the bar, then trips over it

Another day, another Chris Hipkins fact check.

His complaint today (Friday) was that Māori MPs are held to a different standard. And that it was racist. "There is an element of racism in this as well that is just ugly," he said.

Different standard? Whose standard? His.

Mike's Minute: The right bloc looked better than the left this week

So a good week for National and, by association, for the Government in general.

There has been a shift with two weeks to go. The gang drama might just have put a nail in Labour's chances of government.

Their polling is now in trouble. Their gap to National is now a problem.

Saturday October 24, 2026 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I cannot see Chris Hipkins winning the election

Oh, I tell you what, I cannot see Chris Hipkins winning the election now.

I mean, if you thought that Mongrel Mob fiasco was bad before, it's got so much worse for Labour. Their candidate has quit and Chris Hipkins himself now looks like he's been fibbing to the public.