Breaking Views Update: Week of 19.4.26

Saturday April 25, 2026 

News:
Govt risks another colossal hīkoi if it weakens Treaty obligations
1News Māori Affairs Correspondent Te Aniwa Hurihanganui explains why the Government’s plan to weaken legal obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi could become as controversial as the Treaty Principles Bill.

Rumblings of discontent

DTNZ: Lest We Forget - ANZAC Day 2026

Each year on ANZAC Day New Zealanders and Australians pause to remember those who served and sacrificed in war, conflict, and peacekeeping missions.

Marked on April 25, the day commemorates the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli in 1915—an event that, despite its hardship and loss, became central to the identity of both nations.

Colinxy: The New Zealand Mounted Rifles - The Forgotten ANZAC Elite

Some New Zealand schoolchildren can recite Gallipoli like scripture. They can tell you about the cliffs, the trenches, the futility, the sacrifice, the mythology. What they cannot tell you, because the curriculum barely mentions it, is that our most consistently successful soldiers of the First World War weren’t on the Dardanelles at all.

They were on horseback in the Sinai, Palestine, and the Jordan Valley.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: 'You can’t hate what Jacinda did and then love what Chris Luxon has done'

Good on Chris Luxon for ditching his regular spot on Breakfast. That’s from Tina.

I disagree with Tina. I don’t think Chris Luxon should have given up on Breakfast the way he has, pulling out of his weekly slot. I mean, obviously it’s his prerogative to do it.

Ryan Bridge: The path to improving financial literacy

I see ACT is flying a kite on free money for school kids.

Which sounds odd given the party's aversion to free lunches.

Seymour's talking about giving each Year 11 student, 5th form, $500 each to invest. It'd cost $30 million a year and could be funded via the KiwiSaver subsidy.

Clive Bibby: All the world’s a stage and men and women merely players

No matter how many times I read Shakespeare’s plays, I marvel at his ability to offer us mere mortals advice that remains timeless in its application to the human condition.

The above opening line taken from “As you like it” is particularly apt in a modern Society riven with conflict and collateral damage from self-serving economic management strategies that have shown little concern for the innocents caught up in situations not of their own making.

David Harvey: "It is better to be king of your silence than a slave of your words,"

Judge Ema Aitken and the Architecture of Greek Tragedy

Introduction

Greek tragedy, at its most essential, is not simply a story of suffering. It is a story of a particular kind of suffering — one that arises from the collision between a person of considerable stature and a fatal internal flaw that they either cannot see or cannot resist.

The great Aristotelian conception of tragedy requires a protagonist of high social standing, an hamartia or fatal error, the arousal of hubris — that peculiar Greek sin of overweening pride and presumption — and ultimately a nemesis or divine retribution that brings the figure low, often in proportion to the heights from which they fell.

Peter Dunne: Winston Peters' savvy

Labour's decision to support the free trade agreement with India should have surprised nobody. It was always going to be the outcome, with the outstanding question being just when Labour would announce its support for the deal. As this column noted in early February, from the outset Labour has been effectively over a barrel on the issue.

Roger Partridge: The hidden reason houses cost too much

New Zealand’s housing crisis has causes everyone recognises – RMA restrictions, building consent delays, infrastructure that cannot keep pace with growth and building costs. All are real. But there is a deeper problem almost nobody mentions: for councils, population growth is an unwelcome burden.

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour signalled last week that the 28 May Budget may finally begin to fix that. Speaking on Herald NOW, he indicated that councils may receive a share of GST from housing construction activity. It is a policy the New Zealand Initiative has been advocating for more than a decade. If it happens, the effects on housing supply and housing affordability will be profound.

David Farrar: Well done Labour

The Herald reports:

Labour is promising to support the Government’s free trade deal with India but is warning exporters could have their market access revoked if New Zealand can’t fulfil a $33 billion investment commitment.

Mike's Minute: Look at Australia for the supermarket experience

If you are one of those exercised about supermarkets and whether they are scandal merchants, then you must follow the current court case in Australia.

It’s the second of its type.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is dealing with Woolworths, having previously dealt with Coles. The Coles' case decision is reserved as they wait for this week's Woolworths case.

Rodney Hide: Marama Davidson’s Toxic Delusion - White Men Cause All Violence — Even When They Don’t

In March 2023, Green co-leader and then-Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Marama Davidson, openly declared:

“I know who causes violence in the world. It is white cis men… who cause violence in the world.”

This wasn’t a slip of the tongue. It reflects her core belief, rooted in Critical Race Theory. In Davidson’s twisted worldview, white cis men are guilty of all violence — not because they commit it, but because they hold power. Any violence by Māori or Pasifika men is ultimately the fault of white men and the “oppressive structures” they created. Personal responsibility is erased. Race and sex are everything.

ANZAC DAY 25th April 2026

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we remember them. 

Their courage, sacrifice, and quiet service endure beyond time.

Lest we forget.

Friday April 24, 2026 

                   ⇩

Ryan Bridge: The terrifying news about Mythos AI

You heard the news about this AI hacking beast called Mythos?

It's a bit scary to be honest. And what's reported to have happened with it in the last seven hours is even scarier.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Labour had no other direction to go on the India FTA

What a surprise, Labour has agreed to support the India free trade agreement - although it wasn’t really a surprise when it was announced today.

I told you last week it would happen this week and Labour would give it the green light because there was really no other way for them to go.

Steven Gaskell: Iran Faces Mounting Economic Pressure as Hormuz Blockade Ripples Globally.

As of late April 2026, the naval blockade around the Strait of Hormuz is inflicting severe economic damage on Iran, with analysts estimating losses of between US$435 million and US$500 million per day. The disruption has effectively paralysed Iran’s most critical export sector and is now sending shockwaves through the global economy.

Geoff Parker: Constitutional Transformation or Constitutional Drift?

The push for constitutional change through Matike Mai Aotearoa is often framed as a reasonable evolution — a move toward “partnership” grounded in the Treaty of Waitangi. Many of its advocates present it as a balanced and inclusive vision for New Zealand’s future.

But the issue is not intent. It is direction — and how key concepts are being reinterpreted to justify structural change.

Lindsay Mitchell: Luxon isn't talking to me

Speaking after his cabinet meeting yesterday, affirming his continuing leadership of the National Party, Prime Minister Chris Luxon said:

"Everyday Kiwis will not be losing sleep over political sideshows in Wellington – they’ll be thinking about their mortgage, their kids’ education and the safety and security of their community."

It suddenly hit me.

He's not talking to me.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - Why the Luxon leadership speculation will return

Christopher Luxon survived. Yesterday he walked into a National caucus meeting and called an unexpected confidence vote on his own leadership. He won it. The doubters didn’t put up. So for now, they’ve been told to shut up.

It’s the framing Luxon wants us to take away. And it’s not entirely wrong. It was a bold move. He called his detractors’ bluff, and they blinked. Stuff’s political editor Jenna Lynch put it best: “His doubters were told to put up or shut up. They didn’t put up anything. So for now they have to shut up.”

But the interesting question isn’t about Luxon surviving yesterday. It’s how long he goes before he has to do something like this again.