Heather du Plessis-Allan: Simon Watts made the right call - but it should go further

Credit to Simon Watts.

Some time ago he told me he was going to do something to stop councils like the Far North District Council.

They put ten iwi representatives, not elected by ratepayers, on a committee with six councillors who were elected, with full voting rights, thereby outnumbering the elected folk.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 31.5.26

Thursday June 4, 2026 

News:
Future of Tauranga’s Māori ward to be decided by binding referendum
Tauranga City Council has agreed to hold a binding referendum letting voters decide whether its Te Awanui Māori ward stays or goes.

The process is being complicated, however, by fast-accelerating local government reforms.

Kerre Woodham: Have a reckon, but not a vote

The Government will stop unelected individuals from voting on council committees, a move an Act MP has described as closing an anti-democratic loophole. It seems like a no brainer. Why should unelected individuals have the right to vote on council committees? Of course people who have never been elected to a council or a government shouldn't be given voting rights. You can certainly ask people for their opinion, their informed comment, but voting rights?

Dark Jester: The Case for Nuclear Energy

It is becoming clear the ‘clean’ energy we have been using is insufficient to power New Zealand. While there are calls to reexamine the use of fossil fuels, I would propose there is another energy source to consider: nuclear energy.

Pee Kay: A PYRHIC VICTORY?

I’m presuming many readers will have received e-mails from political party’s and political ginger groups announcing their roles in yesterdays announcement that the government will change the law so only elected councillors can vote on council committees.

And we all say well done to them all for the parts they played in getting the government to move on this issue where democracy was being pushed aside and political strength and power would be determined by your ancestry! The cornerstone of democracy, one person, one vote will be preserved!

Roy Morgan: Support for National-led Government surges in May as Labour support falls

Roy Morgan’s New Zealand Poll for May 2026 shows the National-led Government (National, ACT & NZ First) up 4% to 51.5%, opening a large lead over the Labour-Greens-Te Pāti Māori Parliamentary Opposition, down 6.5% to 41.5%, the latest Roy Morgan New Zealand Poll finds.

Kerre Woodham: We need to be open to discussion about our nuclear stance

Defence Minister Chris Penk opened the door, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon slammed it shut. Chris Penk was at the Shangri La Dialogue, an annual security forum held in Singapore where defence ministers and military chiefs from across the Asia Pacific gather every year.

Asked whether New Zealand might ease its rules to allow nuclear powered submarines into its waters, given that Australia's slated to get three nuclear powered subs as part of the AUKUS deal, Chris Penk said, “We don't have any official shift in our no nukes policy, but the subject," he said, “is worth chatting about." He said New Zealanders are sceptical of nuclear weapons, but it's quite a different proposition when it comes to nuclear propulsion.

Bob Edlin: Budget surprise for the banks...

Budget surprise for the banks – but Willis says she will be surprised if the “tiny” levy costs are passed on to customers

One News reports:

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she would be “extremely surprised” if banks passed a new $200 million prudential levy announced in Budget 2026 onto their customers, though Cabinet has not yet decided what action it would take if they did.

David Farrar: A win for democracy

Simon Watts announced:

Only elected councillors will be able to vote on council committees, in a move that strengthens democratic accountability, Local Government Minister Simon Watts announced today.

“Councillors are directly accountable to voters for their decisions. We are amending the Local Government Act 2002 so only elected members hold voting rights at council committee meetings,” Mr Watts says.

Rodney Hide: The Wrong Journey: Erica Stanford’s Sex Education Failure

I have been impressed by just how disgusted parents are by what our Minister of Education Erica Stanford has the schools teaching our kids about sex. It’s easy to see why the radicals pushing this material don’t want parents to know what is being taught.

The Ministry’s official Year 9 resource, *Navigating the Journey: Relationships and Sexuality Education*, produced by Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa, is a glossy 196-page document. It is not a balanced, cautious guide to growing up. It is heavily weighted toward exploring “gender identity,” “sexual orientation,” “diversity,” and critical discussions around pornography and sexting. Students are encouraged to view gender as largely self-defined and to explore “diverse attitudes and values about sex.”

Wednesday June 3, 2026 

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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.

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.