John MacDonald: Does Chris Hipkins know the meaning of integrity?

The reassurances from Labour leader Chris Hipkins that the party is no longer the smug, arrogant outfit we all got sick of three years ago are not only starting to sound hollow. They are hollow.

Because if any other party had recruited a top cop for its party list without the top cop telling police bosses about it until the very last minute, Hipkins and his crew would be going nuts.

Dr Eric Crampton: RBNZ’s campaign to boost banking cash services struggles under scrutiny

Government is awash in consultation processes. So much so that “consultation fatigue” is a real term.

But it is a bit odd when an agency consults over a proposal that it may not have the legal authority to implement – when it cannot do the thing that it proposes doing, or at least not without legislative or regulatory changes beyond the agency’s own authority.

David Farrar: Do as I say, not as I do

Stuff reports:

A social media faux pas while en route to a tangi caught Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson out as she was “snapped” by her colleague driving over the speed limit on Sunday.

Davidson was travelling to the tangi of former Te Pāti Māori president Whatarangi Winiata when she was exposed by fellow Green MP Hūhana Lyndon, who shared a video of Davidson behind the wheel on Instagram as part of a series showcasing the pair’s journey.

Wednesday June 10, 2026 

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Barry Brill: Was our recent extreme flooding caused by an undersea volcano?

If the 2023-26 warming spike was the result of Hunga-Tonga, we need not spend a fortune on strengthening the national infrastructure.

Water, water, everywhere….

New Zealand's summer of 2023 saw catastrophic flooding. In late January, an atmospheric river—a concentrated flowing band of tropical moisture—parked itself over Auckland and a record 261mm fell in just 18 hours. Four people died. Over 19,000 properties were damaged. The economic cost reached NZ$2.2 billion.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Labour's reset is off to a very shaky start

Now, I can’t imagine Labour’s woken up feeling awesome this morning about how that reset is going. What do you think?

This is a reset – you do realise that. After months of saying nothing, having no new policy and generating headlines for Ayesha Verrall singing weird songs about ducks, they started this week with a classic reset move.

Perspective with Andrew Dickens: We're all paying for this LNG project one way or another

So the LNG power plant is set to go ahead to protect us when renewables run low. The Government must be satisfied that the business case stacks up, because that’s what they said they would consider.

At the same time, the Government will be cracking down on power companies during dry-year shortages. Fines for failing to secure enough backup electricity could jump from $2 million to as much as $10 million, or 10 percent of turnover. That’s a hefty fine.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 7.6.26

Wednesday June 10, 2026 

News:
Auckland Council focuses on strengthening partnerships with mana whenua
Auckland Council’s relationships with mana whenua and Māori communities have been the focus of a Tāmaki Ora report on Iwi Ora, recently presented to the Community Committee.

Iwi Ora is a key focus area in the council’s Tāmaki Ora Māori Outcomes Strategy and Performance Measurement Framework 2025–2027. It aims to develop meaningful, long-term relationships with mana whenua, so that iwi can better contribute to the decisions that shape Tāmaki Makaurau and their communities.

DTNZ: IPCA calls for new police protocols on child placement decisions

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has found Police need clearer guidance and stronger procedures when dealing with children and young people who refuse to return home but do not meet the legal threshold for emergency intervention.

The watchdog investigated four complaints from parents and guardians whose children, aged between 11 and 15, were placed with friends or other caregivers by Police without parental consent. In each case, the young person either did not want to return home or had asked Police to take them elsewhere.

Gary Judd KC: The Issue Raised by the Army Orders

Army Orders and the State’s Duty of Neutrality

This morning The Law Association of New Zealand’s LawNews published an earlier version of the following article, prompted by Alex Penk’s How Army orders sparked debate on religious freedom protections under BORA published by LawNews last Thursday. I commend Penk’s article to you, as it contains more about what the Army has been up.

The Army orders raise a serious issue under s13 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act because they appear to require personnel to engage with, or at least affirm the significance of, a particular religious or cosmological framework under threat of discipline.

Kerre Woodham: MPs' expense claims are legally right, but are they morally right?

Quite frankly, it's all getting a bit much. We're all tightening our belts, we're making decisions about where we're spending our money, what we're spending it on. The rates keep rising, insurance levies keep going up, the cost of everything is through the roof. And for many, many people, there's not a lot of disposable left at the end of the day. Even people who are earning pretty good salaries are suddenly finding there's not as much left at the end of the pay cycle as there used to be.

Ele Ludeman: Do you want govt between you & your GP?

Labour’s policy to fund three GP visits for everyone has been criticised for many reasons, including that it would overwhelm already overstretched general practices.

Labour’s answer to that is to get between us and our GPs:

Graham Adams: Is UNDRIP really an easy win for Winston?

With National widely regarded as falling somewhere between half-hearted and hopeless on rolling back co-governance, its coalition partners are in fierce competition for voters who object to Maorification and reject any interpretation of the Treaty that implies a partnership between the Crown and iwi.

Melanie Phillips: Turning self-defence into a war crime -- again

Despite its predictability, the BBC's twisted treatment of Israel is deeply shocking

Even by the standards of the BBC’s venomous bias against Israel, today’s exchange between BBC Radio Today programme anchor Anna Foster and Israeli spokesman Alex Gandler was jaw-dropping.

Gandler tried to present an accurate timeline and context to show that Israel had attacked both Lebanon and Iran in response to their attacks on Israel. He didn’t get very far. Constantly interrupting him, with a voice made tremulous with indignation at Israel’s apparent perfidy, Foster insisted that the Lebanon ceasefire wasn’t really a ceasefire at all because Israel had continued to attack Hezbollah. Indeed, she charged, in attacking Beirut “it looks like Israel doesn’t want a ceasefire”. To Foster, it seems, demonic Israel just wants to kill people for its own opaque but nefarious purposes.

Bob Edlin: Green MP wins gold for gift of the gab....

Green MP wins gold for gift of the gab – but a party co-leader scores much better for media attention

The PoO team was surprised to learn from The Post that Lawrence Xu-Nan, a first-term Green MP, has spoken more in Parliament than any other MP this term.

Not by a little either – Xu-Nan has said 420,000 words, over four times the 102,000 words the average MP has managed.

David Farrar: Labour’s top cop off to a bad start

The Post reports:

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has expressed severe displeasure over the process that led to a superintendent standing at a high spot on the Labour list. …

Chambers said he had only learnt about the possibility of Naidoo being a Labour candidate on Thursday afternoon, ahead of the list-ranking process that happened over the weekend.

Tuesday June 9, 2026 

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Heather du Plessis-Allan: Luxon does his best work overseas

Is it just me, or did anyone else notice what a contrast it was watching Christopher Luxon cracking jokes with Anthony Albanese, compared to what it was like when Jacinda Ardern visited Australia?

For all her kindness and communication when she was Prime Minister, she would use those trips to Australia to give then–Prime Minister Scott Morrison a tongue-lashing—usually over the 501 deportees, which was pointless because the Aussies weren’t going to change their minds.

Perspective with Andrew Dickens: Why is there no trace of policy out of Labour?

Something has finally emerged from the silent, yawning abyss that is the Labour Party. Unfortunately, it’s not policy - it’s their list.

Seventy-two names, 30 new candidates. Party president Jill Day and leader Chris Hipkins say the lineup reflects modern New Zealand. They’ve got candidates from business, farming, the public service, unions, and community services - Rhodes scholars, Fulbright scholars and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

Peter Williams: Maori seat manipulation

How a clever campaign could help derail Chris Bishop

There’s an intriguing campaign underway to try and manipulate the existence of the Māori electorates at the next two elections – this year and 2029 - and possibly for 2032 as well.

That’s because the existence of seven such constituencies is guaranteed through the next two elections and there won’t be a review of their number and boundaries until at least 2030. Now that the census has been abandoned and replaced with otherwise available government data, there’s no guarantee the number of seats will change for 2032 either.