Bob Edlin: Columnist is critical of Luxon’s leadership......

Columnist is critical of Luxon’s leadership – and that’s without examining policies which approve separate funds for Maori science

Janet Wilson, writing in The Post, muses on why New Zealand’s major parties seem hellbent on making themselves as irrelevant as possible to the voters they serve.

For different reasons, both National and Labour have unshackled themselves from their identities and what they stand for, she contends.

Kerre Woodham: Who should be paying more for home insurance?

It's not really a huge shock, is it? The news that homeowners will have to pay even more for home insurance to help the Natural Hazards Commission (formerly known as the EQC), is to be expected. Insurers have been warning for years that premiums will rise and will continue to rise, that they may have to put some of the cost of risky properties back onto homeowners and in some cases, they'll be declining to insure homes altogether. And we've already started to see that.

Michael Reddell: Productivity growth languishing

I hadn’t had a look for a while at the OECD labour productivity (real GDP per hour worked) data, but the release of the latest OECD Economic Outlook the other day prompted me to spend some time in the (less user-friendly than it was) OECD database.

DTNZ: Australia re-enters per capita recession

Australia has officially slipped back into a per capita recession, with GDP rising just 0.2% in the March quarter—below forecasts—and falling 0.2% per person when adjusted for population growth.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Tall poppy syndrome leaves Kiwis working harder not smarter

Later this month, our organisation, The New Zealand Initiative, will take a large delegation of top New Zealand business leaders to the Netherlands. It is not a trade mission but an ideas exploration. We want to see what makes the Dutch tick and what makes the Netherlands successful.

As I was preparing materials for our delegation, one graph caught my attention. It tracked capital intensity and labour productivity for both countries from 1890.

Ele Ludemann: Not this term but

The government is right to be concerned about the performance of some state owned enterprises:

Simeon Brown has told various Government-owned companies they must explain why they are failing to deliver their cost of equity and how they will improve their return to the Crown.

The Minister for State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) told several of the SOEs – including NZ Post and Landcorp – that the Government was “disappointed and concerned” by their performance and they must deliver a “bold and challenging turnaround plan”. . .

Mike’s Minute: Was smokefree a failure or partially successful?

There seems to be increasing reportage, based around some new research, that our dream of being smokefree is up in smoke.

2025 is the year when we were aiming to be smokefree. By smokefree, it would have been reduced to 5% left smoking.

To meet that goal, the research says about 80,000 more people need to quit. They won't.

Thursday June 4, 2025 

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Zoran Rakovic: The Real Equity Is Found in Equations

New Zealand’s education system must shift from ideology to inspiration. It’s time to teach STEM, creativity, and AI to prepare kids for the next century.

Our children deserve rocket fuel, not red tape. As the Ministry of Education clings to 19th-century grievances, the future is slipping through our fingers. This is a call to reclaim education for what it should be: a launchpad into the stars.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The polls revealed how people felt about the pay equity saga

We've had a case of conflicting polls over the last twenty-four hours, with two completely different Governments predicted.

But if there's one thing you can take from these polls, which they both agree on, it's that the pay equity revamp hasn’t turned into the circuit breaker that the left clearly thought it was going to be.

Matua Kahurangi: The Privacy Commissioner just opened the door to mass surveillance

Facial recognition coming to a store near you!

The Privacy Commissioner has just given facial recognition technology a "cautious tick" after Foodstuffs trialled it in some of its supermarkets. In my humble opinion this is a massive failure to protect the privacy of ordinary New Zealanders.

This isn't about stopping shoplifters. It's not about keeping staff safe. It's about watching and tracking people without their permission.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 1.6.25

Thursday June 5, 2025 

News:
Matariki takes to the water for 2025 festival
Auckland’s Matariki Festival will invite visitors to paddle waka and experience kapa haka, as the city celebrates the Māori lunar new year.

The festival will run from 7 June to 13 July and decorate central Auckland with murals, sculptures and neon lights.

Lindsay Mitchell: Ardern - If she insists on being remembered, I will oblige

One thing children who get murdered never seem short of is names. The latest example is Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene, the four-year-old Kaikohe child who recently met a violent death. Late 2023 it was Taita toddler, Ruthless-Empire Souljah Reign Rhind Shephard Wall. Or in 2016, 14 week-old Richard Royal Orif Takahi Winiata Uddin. Examples abound.

Insights From Social Media

Maori Activists / Racists Create Racism Watchdog Website

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Oh spare me, just what New Zealand needed another website, this time courtesy of the Iwi Chairs Forum, to inform us all that the real problem in New Zealand isn't crime, cost of living, or failing infrastructure, but hurt feelings.

Enter “PAPARA” a name that sounds suspiciously like a noise a toddler makes, now moonlighting as a self-appointed racism watchdog. Because obviously, what the country has been crying out for is more publicly funded moral scolding, dressed up in cultural jargon and co-governance buzzwords.

Chris Lynch: International visitor spending increases as tourism rebounds

Spending by international visitors in New Zealand rose by more than nine per cent over the past year, according to new government data.

Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said the increase reflects the sector’s vital role in growing New Zealand’s economy.

Dave Patterson: Ukraine Demonstrates Capability Just in Time for Ceasefire Talks

With precise strategic execution, Kyiv may have tilted the battle in its favor.

Seldom in war does the weaker side deliver a decisively devastating blow to the stronger. However, that may be just what happened last weekend (May 31-June 1). Ukraine launched a small drone attack deep into Russia that significantly damaged or destroyed an estimated 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers. Like that of the United States, Russia’s strategic bomber force is a key element of its nuclear triad. Even more significant is that the airfields hit by Kyiv’s massive drone armada are deep inside Russia; one, Belaya in the Irkutsk region, is nearly 2,500 miles from Ukraine.

Kerre Woodham: How can we take polls seriously?

Honestly, I don't know why we report on polls. Seriously, I don't know why I'm even talking about them myself, but it's really ripped my nightie overnight. They're so frustrating, and because media companies commission them, it makes the media look like master manipulators.

Philip Crump: NZME Shareholder Meeting - RNZ Corrects the Record

After a two hour shareholder meeting, NZME has a refreshed Board which includes the newly elected Steven Joyce and Jim Grenon.

After months of uncertainty, NZME’s annual shareholder meeting took place yesterday afternoon at its Auckland offices, in the appropriately named iHeart Lounge.

The Herald’s Shayne Currie described the meeting as ‘chilled out’ due to the icy room temperature but it was an equally good description for the lively, good natured and relaxed discussion observed by an audience of approximately 50 shareholders. Notable attendees included former proprietor Michael Horton, Australian media commentator and investor Roger Colman and Hobson’s Pledge leader, Don Brash.

Chris Lynch: Opinion - The kindness façade: Ardern’s global glow hides domestic scars

When Jacinda Ardern appeared on New Zealand television to promote her memoir A Different Kind of Power, host Hilary Barry opened the segment by saying, “She’s been interviewed by some of the best in the business about it, the BBC, CBS, Oprah even, but she’s still got time for us too.” Ardern smiled and replied, “Are you kidding? This is actually the one I’m the most nervous about, because it’s home.”

JC: Is Goldsmith Out of Touch?

Paul Goldsmith’s recent comments on the taxpayer-owned entities Radio New Zealand and Television New Zealand bear little relation to global movements within the media landscape. His aspirations for these two media outlets cannot possibly be realised unless certain undertakings are made, of which no reference was made in his remarks.