Breaking Views Update: Week of 3.5.26

Friday May 8, 2026 

News:
Waitangi Tribunal grants urgent inquiry into Treaty clause review
The Waitangi Tribunal has granted an urgent inquiry into the Government’s sweeping review of Treaty clauses, marking a major escalation in the growing backlash against plans to weaken or repeal references to Te Tiriti o Waitangi across legislation.

Ryan Bridge: The Nats stand a chance this election

The Coalition is failing on two numbers that matter most to us voters.

Inflation is up over 3% - not as bad as the Aussies but not helped by Trump.

But wage growth is 2%.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Wellington Council's been caught keeping secrets from ratepayers again

Now, you would have thought that after all the publicity Wellington City Council has been getting - and the paid staff have been getting - for being caught doing things behind the backs of elected councillors, they probably wouldn’t do it again.

And yet, here we are. They’ve been caught doing it again.

David Harvey: A Framework For Media Regulation In The Digital Age

A standalone proposal for the reform of media and communications regulation in New Zealand

Preliminary Note

The Minister for Broadcasting, Paul Goldsmith, announced earlier today that the BSA is going to be disestablished. He favours an industry based model for ongoing media regulation and believes that the task can be taken up by the NZ Media Council. That is all very well but the Council requires additional funding. Perhaps the funds allocated to the BSA can be redirected to the Media Council.

Professor Brian Boyd: Place—or Race?—in Education

Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland has enshrined “place” in education in a top-down and almost entirely unargued-for way. “Place” appears to be a cover for race: an attempt at social justice and possibly an attempt to lift Māori performance in the university and society. The roots of this shift go back to 2022, when a broad curriculum “transformation” was proposed. The elements dealing with “place” were initially given great prominence. They promoted idealized, romanticized, and essentialized Māori ways of thinking and attempted to instil a narrow and fixed interpretation of te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Trump’s Iran war is paying for Putin’s

Russian power has always sat on a contradiction. The country can put satellites into orbit and tanks across borders, but it cannot build a normal economy.

Helmut Schmidt caught the contradiction in the 1970s when he called the Soviet Union “Obervolta mit Raketen,” Upper Volta with rockets. The line was brutal then, and it has aged well (even though Upper Volta is now called Burkina Faso).

Bob Edlin: Science teachers (really?) troubled that our kiddies might struggle with learning about “The Father of Botany”

Centrist today has headlined a report –

Teachers push back as curriculum reset strips back Treaty framing and returns to clearer basics

The report kicks off:

David Farrar: A good further transparency move

The Herald reports:

Members of the public are due to get greater insight into the thinking of those on the powerful Reserve Bank committee that sets interest rates.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and Finance Minister Nicola Willis have agreed to a new charter that will see members’ individual views on how to set monetary policy publicised.

Simon O'Connor: Hamlet and the NZ media

Some journalists recent behaviour; legal threats; hidden stories; and an ideologically captured regulator. The state of New Zealand's media is akin to a Shakespearean tragedy.


To badly quote Marcellus from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 4) - there is something rotten with the state of our mainstream media and its wider ecosystem.

Whether it is the behaviour of some reporters; the increasing use of lawyers by the media; or the actions of the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) – the Fourth Estate is like the proverbial leviathan, eating itself.

Mike's Minute: How do you not have confidence in an event already sorted?

In a year of wacky polls and debate, we have this morning probably the maddest result of all.

Horizon research has either asked a leading or confusing question, or they have a misrepresentative group of people. Or the people who answered have other things in mind when they answered because the poll is about the fuel crisis.

Now the fuel "crisis", such as it is, has not actually been a crisis. You might argue in price it has, but it's peaked and the fears of $200 a barrel never happened and never came close.

JC: Good News the Media Won’t Tell You

Having completed my last article, the next thing I did was pick up the Weekend Herald, where I spotted an article by Cecilia Robinson. It was a good read, which meant it wasn’t an article written by an in-house journalist, e.g., Thomas Coughlan. Cecilia, like me, is a glass-half-full person. Some of my articles might read differently, but, overall, I have a positive attitude to most things in life. Cecilia’s article was not only positive but backed up with facts. “Are we talking down an economy on the up?” was her headline.

Thursday May 7, 2026 

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Kerre Woodham: Is there a case for amalgamation?

Government ministers gave councils an ultimatum yesterday: come up with your own plans for amalgamation within three months, or the Government will do it for you. Local Government Minister Simon Watts and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop said there was broad support from councils – some were already gung-ho and proceeding with plans to amalgamate. One of them is Nelson Mayor Nick Smith. He's long held the view that merging with Tasman is the right thing to do for his city and cites common interests and unnecessary duplication.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The BSA sealed its own fate

Well, blow me down - I did not think that Paul Goldsmith had the courage or the inclination to do something as bold as actually scrapping the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

I thought it was all talk when he kept dropping it as a possibility but it turns out I was wrong. He’s announced the BSA is gone; the laws will be drawn up in the next few months and they’ll be passed before the next election.

Lindsay Mitchell: Stanford admits Kiwis don't want to work

Immigration Minister, Erica Stanford, criticising ACT's proposed levy on immigrant workers, said it will fall to farmers to pay it. Farmers need immigrant workers because:

“There are certain regions in New Zealand where there is low unemployment or there are Kiwis who are simply not willing to do some of those jobs, be it in agriculture or aged care,” she said.

John McLean: Legal Elite Is Winning In The War For Constitutional Supremacy

Craig Stobo has been forced to resign as chair of the board of New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority.

On 4 May 2026, National Party MP and Commerce & Consumer Affairs Minister, Cameron Brewer, accepted Stobo’s offer to resign. Brewer’s acceptance was of course code for, “If he’d refused to resign, I’d’ve booted him”.

David Harvey: The Word that Swallowed Everything

This could be seen as a companion piece to “The Art of Not Deciding” which I published on 29 April 2026. That article dealt with decision paralysis. One aspect of that is fear and accompanying that is a desire to stay safe – from criticism, condemnation. Better to do nothing than do something and be criticised for it.

In this article I look at the issue of safety and the word “safe” and how that word has been weaponised.

Let me begin with a word. Not a law, not a regulation, not even a policy — just a word.

“Safe.”

David Farrar: Chippie is brave and right

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is open to discussing whether New Zealand’s superannuation should be means-tested.

Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Kerre Woodham he would not want full means-testing of the country’s pension but added “there are questions”.

Ross Meurant: Speech at the funeral of Pat Vesey

Excuse my referring to script. I usually speak from the cuff but there are a couple of points where I need to be specific.

To the family of Pat Vesey – I extend my genuine condolences.

I emphasise “genuine” for once upon a time, Mr Vesey and I were adversaries.

Family of Pat Vesey, you know me not. But some may recall the constable-on-CIB trial - as one of the Scene Detectives - at the homicide site of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe, Pukekawa, June 1970.

Anthony Grant: Tikanga - The Unknown Law That Binds Us All

The law of Tikanga troubles me.

My concerns stem in part from my experience as a student at Auckland University in 1967 when I was enrolled to study Mãori.