Ashley Church: The stories RNZ doesn’t want you to hear

What will it take to get Goldsmith to act?

For some time now, I have argued that New Zealand needs an independent inquiry into the editorial culture, balance and conduct of its two state broadcasters, Radio New Zealand and Television New Zealand.

Both of these Broadcasters have drifted from their traditional role as reporters of the news, into an extreme form of ideological bias which shapes the ways that news is selected, framed and prioritised.

Roger Partridge: An affront to democracy?

Mike Smith, the climate activist suing six of New Zealand’s largest companies over greenhouse gas emissions, is unhappy. On Tuesday, the Government announced it will amend the Climate Change Response Act 2002 to stop cases like his and others like it. Smith calls the move “an affront to democracy.”

He has the wrong end of the stick.

Dr Eric Crampton: Alcohol licensing changes burden applicants with cost of objections

There’s always been a tension in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.

The Act’s object has two parts. It seeks that the sale, supply, and consumption of alcohol should be undertaken safely and responsibly. It also seeks to minimise the harm caused by excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol.

Net Zero Watch Samizdat: North Sea’s future hangs in the balance

UK

Miliband vows permanent shutdown of North Sea

Labour is to ban new oil and gas fields in Britain, making it far harder for any future government to reopen the North Sea. A legal prohibition on new drilling in the energy independence bill will make Ed Miliband’s temporary moratorium on new drilling permanent. Labour also plans to legally ban onshore fracking.

Nick Clark: Bigger isn't better

Centralisation has been New Zealand's answer to local government's problems for decades. It has not worked.

Last week’s announcement by Ministers Simon Watts and Chris Bishop continues this approach. Councils will have three months to submit proposals to merge themselves or risk a government-led process that could impose mergers on them. The choice is framed as ‘flexibility’ but it is really Hobson’s choice – accept amalgamation or be forced into it. Either pathway would produce fewer, larger councils.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Should NZ’s Luxon, Hipkins consider grand coalition?

Ahead of New Zealand’s 2017 election, I floated the idea of a grand coalition between National and Labour in a few columns. The circumstances back then made it appealing. The two main parties commanded more than 80 per cent of the vote. A temporary partnership, I argued, could deliver the difficult reforms that no smaller coalition would attempt.

With polls pointing to a very tight outcome in November’s general election, several commentators have now begun making the same case. But the circumstances that made the argument reasonable in 2017 no longer exist today.

Dr Michael Johnston: Einstein’s bastards

The name ‘Einstein’ is synonymous with intelligence. More than 70 years after the physicist’s death, if someone is called an Einstein, everyone knows they are incredibly smart.

Physics students of lesser intellect struggle with the intricacies of Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity. Many would give their eye teeth for some help from the great man himself.

They need struggle no longer. Einstein has been reincarnated as an agentic AI.

Roger Partridge: Have we Been Breaking Local Government by Trying to Fix it?

Local government is hard to defend. Rates are rising at more than three times inflation. Debt has doubled in less than a decade. Consents drag on while housing remains unaffordable.

Each generation of politicians has reached for the same fix for local government’s problems: bigger councils, fewer of them, and more decisions made in Wellington. The 1989 reorganisation cut local bodies from around 850 to 86. The 2010 Auckland reform put nearly 1.5 million people under a single council and twenty councillors.

David Farrar: National and Labour should come together on this

The Herald reports:

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed his party will campaign on lifting the age of eligibility for superannuation at this year’s election, although he declined to mention specifics.

Luxon confirmed the policy on Kerre Woodham Mornings on Newstalk ZB. National had previously said it would run on some kind of policy to make superannuation more affordable, although it had not yet confirmed that policy.

Sunday May 17, 2026 

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Elizabeth Rata: SUBMISSION TO THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE AND TRADE COMMITTEE ON THE NEW ZEALAND–INDIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

Submitted by Professor Elizabeth Rata, University of Auckland

16 May 2026

MY POSITION

I oppose the inclusion of Article 13.2 of the New Zealand–India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which expressly affirms the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Breaking Views Update: Week of 17.5.26

Sunday May 17, 2026 

News:
Port of Tauranga to compensate iwi for ‘wasted effort' after aborting resource consent application
A company that dragged local iwi and hapū through years of litigation only to walk away at the eleventh hour has been ordered to pay for the cultural work it failed to do itself.

In a recently released Environment Court ruling, the court said Ports of Tauranga (POTL) must compensate them for the "wasted effort" of preparing and presenting cultural evidence the company should have addressed from the outset.

Mike's Minute: Fees Free was a mistake - let's not repeat it

I have learned a lot about kids and university, having had two attend and graduate and one still immersed in the experience.

Here are the takeouts.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 16 May 2026

The Māori political map is being redrawn

Te Pāti Māori’s internal warring has kicked into a new phase with Mariameno Kapa-Kingi formally quitting the party (after previously taking them to court for booting her out) and announcing she is launching her own party, the “Te Tai Tokerau Party”. The new electorate-specific party name may actually be an issue, however, as concerns have already been raised about whether the Electoral Commission will allow a party named after an electorate as it may present confusion or advantage.

Olivia Pierson: A de facto marriage - Islam & Marxism

The undying love-affair between Islam and Marxism, particularly admired by the wanton wokerati, represents a profound moral, and therefore civilisational, challenge to human flourishing in our time.

Both display a damn creepy organising principle steeped in the rejection of Western liberty, Judeo-Christian understandings of human nature, and the fundamental dignity of the person.

David Harvey: Two Tribes, One Argument - Salmond, Dutta, and the Grammar of Progressive Polemic

An analysis of two recent New Zealand opinion pieces, their shared themes, intellectual methods, and rhetorical weaknesses

Bryce Edwards of the Democracy Project runs an excellent daily news briefing as part of the Democracy Project. The briefing consists of news stories organized by topic and with links. The bias is towards legacy media (a term in intend to use when I am being polite about Mainstream Media. I use the later term when I am being critical) but alternative media features as well. Half of the site is free to all. The other half is for paid subscribers. It is well worth the subscription.

Peter Dunne: Labour and Greens need Te Pati Maori

Rawiri Waititi is absolutely correct when he says there will be no one-term government without Te Pati Māori. At no point since the last election have Labour and the Green Party been polling strongly enough to contemplate forming a government without the inclusion of Te Pati Māori. And even if Te Pati Māori were to be involved, there have only been three occasions, according to the polls, since the last election when the left bloc would have had the numbers to form a government, were there to have been an election.

Peter Williams: STV time is up

Time to remove a complicated voting system

For those suffering from insomnia at 2.30 in the morning, can I recommend a taxpayer funded website stv.govt.nz

On second thoughts it may not just make your eyes glaze over. It could also make you bloody angry about how some local government political activists, aided and abetted by their bureaucrats, have conned their voting public to adopt the ridiculous voting system known as Single Transferable Vote or STV.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Is Auckland getting ripped off when it comes to concerts?

Here’s a question for you: how badly did we get ripped off if it’s true we paid $3 million to get Robbie Williams here?

Now, we don’t know for sure that's the amount the Government paid out of the Major Events Fund, but that is what Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has revealed in a fit of pique at the Government.

Ryan Bridge: We need more positivity

It's Friday huddle, pep talk time.

New Zealand, we're going to need our number-8 wire, positive, can-do, problem solver attitude now more than ever.

Air New Zealand's in the doldrums, Trump's at war in the Middle East, oil's chocked up, Xi's talking about Taiwan again.