Breaking Views Update: Week of 26.7.26

Friday July 31, 2026 

News:
Mt Maunganui Mauau not ready to accept people yet, iwi says
The iwi of Tauranga Moana say the recent landslides on Mt Maunganui Mauau is their mountain telling them he is not ready to accept people yet.

Six slips have been recorded since the weekend, near where severe storms and record rainfall in January sent a deadly load of mud and debris into the campsite below.

Mike's Minute: The cost of living "crisis" no longer exists

It turns out a lot is in a name.

Stats NZ gave us the latest household living-costs price indexes.

This is what we pay for stuff. This is the cost of our living or, as is more often than not referred to by the media and the miserable, the "cost of living crisis".

Yvonne Van Dongen: New Zealand Is An Escape Hatch

For transers fleeing Trump’s America or homophobic foreign regimes.

The news that a male student from Oman identifying as trans was able to access New Zealand funding raises serious questions about our immigration policies in such cases.

The Otago University student came here on a scholarship to study commerce from his home country. That scholarship is worth $340,000 to the student and, by implication, also New Zealand.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Why are the oil and gas companies scared to invest in us?

There are two ways to look at this oil and gas announcement today.

Aussie outfit EnZed Energy's been given the nod to go have a sniff around off the coast of Taranaki.

That's important because they're the first company to be given that right since the Ardern ban. But there's already talk online about the fact this was the only application. There was nobody else applying for this permit, and it's just to have a poke around.

Pee Kay: The councils affected surely wouldn’t fall for this undisguised power grab….would they?

Back in late 2025 the government signalled nationwide council amalgamation plans to replace regional councils with Combined Territories Boards. Following a three-month ultimatum in May, 2026, councils have until August, 2026, to voluntarily merge under the “Head Start” pathway or face forced consolidation from Wellington.

Andrew Dickens: The bigger problem isn't oil

The New Zealand Government has officially granted the first new offshore oil and gas exploration permit since reversing its ban, awarding it to Adelaide-based Australian explorer EnZed Energy.

EnZed Energy, an Australian start-up. So, it’s their first rodeo.

David Farrar: Radio NZ at it again

So Radio NZ ran a story from Reuters about the terrible hate crime attack in Berlin which saw 1 killed and 29 wounded at a pride festival.

However they removed a key detail from the story. That the attacker was an Islamist. Reuters had this in their story, yet Radio NZ removed it. (see below)

JC: Which Greens Are Good for You

The garden variety of course. They are packed with, among other things, essential vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre that support overall health. As my wife will be quick to tell you, they are not my favourite food, but she serves them up on a regular basis, bless her. I am regularly reminded a diet without them is not in my best interests. So, to ensure my good health I duly consume and, to be honest, my tastebuds are not averse to the flavours of most.

There is another variety of which the same cannot be said. These are the human/political specimens. The Green Party released their election manifesto over the weekend and a diet without what they are offering, I suggest, is in every sane person’s best interests.

Kerre Woodham: Is this how you imagined your retirement would go?

From good news to bad news really – a growing number of pensioners are turning to the Government's hardship support network as a last resort as the cost of living crisis grinds on. Applications for temporary additional support from New Zealand super recipients have almost tripled since 2020, rising from around about 22,000 per year to more than 61,000 in 2025.

Spaniard: Opportunity Party: what of our conservation estate?

At present, New Zealanders have equal stakes in our open-access public conservation estate … Those settings would be ended by the work Kingdon-Bebb fronted for the Options Development Group. Kiwis’ equality in the public conservation sphere, certainty of access, and the science-driven focus on nature’s good health would be over.

David 'Farrar: Will MBIE be held on contempt?

The Herald reports:

Ministry officials are denying they deliberately misled a Parliament select committee by not revealing an immigration IT project had been terminated while being questioned about its progress.

Appearing before Parliament’s Privileges Committee today, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) chief executive Nic Blakeley and former Immigration New Zealand (INZ) head Alison McDonald insisted they hadn’t intended to hide the project’s cancellation from MPs and instead had believed the matter was commercially sensitive and couldn’t be discussed as negotiations were ongoing.

Thursday July 30, 2026 

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Gerry Eckhoff: A Dog’s breakfast

A dog’s breakfast has been placed on the menu for us all by a ministerial sous - chef and Minister of Local Government - Simon Watts. It is quite extraordinary that he thinks such far-reaching changes to local government require virtually no time being allocated for widespread consultation between councils and the people who employ them - the rate payer. Even more remarkable is the lack of published data that would help enable us all to make an informed judgment on all proposals.

Robin Grieve: Fact Checking Jack Tame

Paul Henry was interviewed by Jack Tame on Q+A about his decision to stand as an ACT Party candidate.

Jack Tame began by reminding viewers that Henry had said he was standing because he wanted his grandchildren to enjoy the same opportunities to grow up in the paradise he experienced as a child. Tame then challenged him on the top income tax rate in the 1960s and the cost of university, arguing that the New Zealand Henry was nostalgic for was the product of a high-taxing government, an extensive welfare state, and a large state house building programme.

Caleb Anderson: The Education Conundrum - Complementary Opposites

Media have been delighted to run a story on the opinions of five anonymous teachers bemoaning current curriculum changes. The anonymity implies that these teachers would be reprimanded for the positions taken, unlikely, and their unanimity indicates the views of the profession at large, also unlikely.

Dr Don Brash: My advice for Christopher Luxon - Stand for something

There is an old political lesson which Christopher Luxon and the National Party would do well to remember:

If you stand for nothing, you get run over.

National is currently polling at around 29 percent. That is an extraordinary position for a first-term Government facing an Opposition still burdened by the failures of the Ardern years.

Geoff Parker: Two Magic Words - "Treaty Obligations” - Or Simply Government Policy?

If you've listened to Ministers, government agencies and public officials over the past few years, you have probably noticed two words appearing with increasing frequency:

"Treaty obligations."

They are used to justify decisions involving public assets, public funding, governance arrangements, consultation requirements and government policy.

Centrist: InternetNZ moves to limit who can vote after Free Speech Union recruited 2,400 members

InternetNZ is considering new restrictions on who may become a member after the Free Speech Union recruited about 2,400 supporters to join the organisation and vote in its board elections.

Members elect InternetNZ directors, giving them influence over the organisation responsible for managing New Zealand’s .nz domain system.

Mike's Minute: Of course Luxon ruled out the Opportunity Party

The funny thing about Christopher Luxon ruling out the Opportunity Party was I already thought he had.

Or if they hadn't, I assumed they would, so yesterday as I watched came as no surprise.

What possible connection is there between a centre-right coalition that extends out to the NZ First nationalism, to the ACT libertarianism, and the National low tax, classic centrist view of the world, and a party that hasn’t even got the 5% and wants to hand out money to everyone, whether they need it or want it or not?

Kerre Woodham: Upgrading our water infrastructure is long overdue

The first national picture of our water networks has revealed severe and immense pressures, with an average of 31 wastewater overflows across New Zealand every single day given as an example of how it's failing. In total, about 15% of our pipes are in poor or very poor condition – and that’s likely to be understating it, given that the pipes are under the ground and we only know there's a problem when there's a problem, like a sinkhole – good morning St Marys Bay, hello Wellington. Or when there's a major sewage overflow – good morning again Wellington, and looking at you, Queenstown Lakes and Herne Bay.