Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Opportunity Party could be the dark horse of the election

I'm not one to get excited at election time about the outside chance that small parties like Opportunity make it into Parliament.

But I reckon this year is different. If Opportunity plays this right, they might just do it.

Yesterday’s Roy Morgan poll had them at 6%.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 31.5.26

Friday June 5, 2026 

News:
Govt sued for $43m over confiscation of Māori fishing quota
The iwi trust that owns New Zealand’s biggest fishing companies is suing the Crown for more than $40m in damages for the prolonged confiscation of fishing rights in violation of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Stuart Smith: Are We Captured by the Bureaucracy?

Voters elect members of parliament, mayors and councillors to make decisions, set priorities and keep a tight rein on spending. But over my political career, I’ve observed too many instances where real power seems to sit with the bureaucracy that writes the reports, sets the agenda and controls the information. It is fair to ask: have some elected representatives been captured by the machines they are supposed to lead?

Ani O'Brien: Henry Nowak was dying; police didn't believe him

The cost of identity politics

The murder of Henry Nowak should be a cultural turning point, a wake up call, a trigger to reset the moral compass in Britain. On its face, it is the story of an 18 year old university student stabbed to death while walking home after a night out. That alone is tragic and would warrant UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s commentary on knife crime. Yet what has made Henry’s death reverberate so powerfully across Britain and the rest of the West, despite initial total silence from the media, is not merely the brutality and senselessness of the attack itself. It is the extraordinary sequence of events that followed, and what those events reveal about the institutions that are supposed to protect us. What’s more, the terrible event underscores a growing problem that our elites do not want to address and get deeply uncomfortable about, that is the scourge of anti-white racism.

Guest Post: Littlewood and the Treaty - How we are being taken to the cleaners

Guest Post by the Cantabrian on Brash & Mitchell.

The controversy around the Waitangi Tribunal, the rapid growth of Maori attempts to exert authority over the government and country, and the question of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi omits one major and crucial element - The 'Littlewood Treaty'.

It has always been a source of debate that there are two official versions of the Treaty - Te Tiriti O Waitangi in Maori and the Treaty of Waitangi in English. There are significant differences between the two documents. One of the functions of the Waitangi Tribunal is the exclusive authority to determine the meaning and effect of the Treaty as embodied in the 2 texts and to decide issues raised by the differences between them. (Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, s 5 (2).)

Pee Kay: And they thought ex mayor Hazelhurst was bad!

Tuesdays announcement by Local Government minister Simon Watts that legislation will be passed that strips unelected appointees of their power to vote on your council committee, as expected, all the usual suspects leapt to the cell phone to call their favourite journalist.

Hasting Mayor was no exception!

Bob Edlin: A lot of fuss about a simple Bill......

A lot of fuss about a simple Bill – its purpose (to make English an official language) is spelled out in 22 words

A researcher and computational linguist says the government’s push to make English an official language raises a question of “what exactly is English being protected from?”.

But that invites another question: why should English have to be protected from something to be entrenched as an official language?

Ashley Church: The real obstacle to a Palestinian State

Why have the peace talks always failed?

At the end of the First World War, the League of Nations gave Britain sovereign control over some of the Middle Eastern territory that had formed part of the defeated Ottoman Empire in the expectation that the Brits would resolve longstanding territorial and political issues between the various peoples who lived in this region.

David Harvey: A Nuclear Conversation

A conversation the Prime Minister would rather not have

There must be something in the air in the Prime Minister’s suite of the Beehive — a virus of omnipotence and omniscience that seems to infect whoever occupies the office. Jacinda Ardern demonstrated it in spades, with her authoritarian kindness and her government’s self-appointment as the nation’s single source of truth. Christopher Luxon now ventures forth in the same spirit, shutting down any debate on the nuclear question before it can begin.

What he does not appear to understand is that the nuclear issue reaches well beyond the Bomb. Nor does he seem aware of the actual limits of New Zealand’s “anti-nuclear” legislation, which does not prohibit the peaceful use of nuclear energy at all. But the more troubling thing is the arrogance of trying to close a conversation down.

David Farrar: Meet the Greens – ACC

Labour appear to have decided on a strategy of releasing as little policy as possible, making it difficult to assess the impact on us of a Labour-led Government.

Fortunately the Greens are not shy in releasing policy, so in the absence of Labour policy I am going to look at Greens policy to get some idea of what the costs will be of a change in government.

Thursday June 4, 2026 

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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.

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.”