Dr Michael Johnston: Second-class confidentiality

New Zealanders who visit psychologists would expect their clinical conversations to be private and confidential. But a draft Code of Ethics from the New Zealand Psychologists Board (NZPB), the professional body that registers practising psychologists, would weaken the privacy rights of Māori clients.

The NZPB claims that “…concepts of privacy and confidentiality may be somewhat altered [for Māori] when the sharing of information leads to additional support and culturally appropriate processes…”

In other words, psychologists may be required to water down the privacy rights of Māori clients based on the NZPB’s characterisation of Māori as a “collectivist culture” in its draft code.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Better on the books

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) pays for the care and recovery of people hurt in accidents. It covers your treatment and some of your lost wages. The aim is to get you back to work and on with your life.

Between 2015 and 2025, ACC had lost its way. Injured people waited too long for help, many became stuck on long-term support, and the future cost of open claims roughly doubled.

Dr Eric Crampton: A better way to step off the Govt’s deceptive capital charge merry-go-round

From 1 July, the start of the new fiscal year, Health New Zealand will stop paying charges to the Crown for the capital that it uses. The Ministry calls it a technical change, with no effect on patient care, infrastructure, or the money available for services. On the Crown’s books, nothing apparently happens at all, on net.

The charge had been running at around $576 million per year, in the 2024/25 estimates. Drop it and nothing much changes, because Health New Zealand was funded by the Crown to pay it to the Crown in the first place.

David Farrar: The secret code of conduct complaint

A guest post by Dr Corinna Proehl:

“Never again is now”. This comment of a GP on the official Instagram account of Hastings’s Mayor Wendy Schollum was enough to trigger a bullying, patronizing pack attack by two councillors, aimed to publicly shame one of their constituents.

The councillors involved are Heather Te Au-Skipworth, senior Hastings District Councillor and close ally of the Mayor. A current Green Party Candidate and former Te Pati Māori candidate, most famous for her racist views: “it is a known fact that Māori genetic makeup is stronger than others…”. And Nick Ratcliffe, former Green Party candidate for Tukituki, newly elected (and lowest polling) Hastings District Councillor and political friend of the mayor.

Sunday June 28, 2026 

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Breaking Views Update: Week of 28.6.26

Sunday June 28, 2026 

News:
Government Commits $8.6m To Build New Plymouth’s First City Marae In More Than 150 Years
The Government will invest up to $8.6 million to help build a new marae in central New Plymouth, ending more than 150 years without a marae for Ngāti Te Whiti in its own rohe.

Ani O'Brien: A week is a long time: 27 June 2026

Greens co-leader attempted actual economic treachery

A story that should have received far more attention this week was Chloe Swarbrick’s extraordinary decision to take her domestic political grievances offshore. The Green Party co-leader wrote (along with Belgian Green MEP Saskia Bricmont) to the European Commission, suggesting New Zealand’s methane target changes may breach our trade deal with the EU and calling for an independent investigation. In other words, she invited foreign trade officials to scrutinise New Zealand’s democratically chosen domestic policy settings because she disagrees with them in the hopes they would punish us economically.

Craig Rucker: The coming nuclear renaissance is small — and mighty

Small modular reactors are a key component for keeping our power grid bright.

Dr. Kelvin Kemm is a brilliant South African nuclear physicist and longtime dear friend of CFACT’s.

As Kelvin writes at CFACT.org:

Guest Post: Luxon’s silence on Te Tiriti o’ Waitangi is undemocratic and deafening in 2026

Guest Post by William Ludbrook on Brash & Mitchell

Why is te Tiriti o’ Waitangi such a divisive issue?

In April 2025 Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promulgated: “I have been talking to iwi leaders for the past 12 months”

And?– so?– no reasonable New Zealander would object to that. The problem is not that Luxon “had been talking to iwi leaders” The problem is that iwi leaders increasingly infer they are in a privileged position in shaping Government Policy. The National Iwi Chairs Forum requested a meeting after objecting to the government’s review of Treaty clauses throughout legislation. Their complaint was that they had not been sufficiently consulted before Cabinet considered reforms?

Richard Prebble: Why We Cannot Talk About Climate Change

I recently posted an article about New Zealand's carbon market.

It asked whether the Government should fix the carbon price or continue auctioning carbon credits.

That was the debate I hoped to have.

Lushington Brady: This Is Your Future, New Zealand

Do you think minorities will ease up on the demands when they become the majority?

Imagine if 81 million New Zealanders upped stakes and moved to Mumbai and Delhi, and then started issuing ultimatums to the Indian government. Imagine if 78 million Kiwis landed in Beijing and Shanghai and started demanding special laws from the Chinese government – or else. How do you think the Indians or Chinese would react? There’d be a non-stop string of flights to Auckland International, repatriating those uppity Kiwis right back where they came from. That’s if they were lucky enough to not end up in a concentration camp in Xinjiang.

Ignore the fact that, of course, there aren’t 78 or 81 million New Zealanders: the point of this hypothetical is to put into relative terms the sheer, overwhelming scale of the twin butter-chicken-and-fried-rice tsunamis which have swamped New Zealand in recent years.

JC: How Can the Left Improve?

The answer is – they can’t.

In many ways that’s a nonsensical question, because the answer to bringing about the changes needed are not policies the left believe in. I will give you examples. The first is the fact that they have removed themselves from political reality. Their playbook restricts them from making the changes to once again become relevant. They don’t even run themselves – their outside paymasters, like the trade unions, do. “He who pays the piper calls the tune”.

Peter Dunne: The Opportunity Party

Since 1996 no new party has entered Parliament without either a sitting or former MP leading it. The Conservative Party in 2014 came close to doing so, scoring about 4% of the party vote, but ultimately failed and never attained that level of support again.

With some opinion polls currently suggesting the Opportunity Party is inching closer to the cusp of the 5% threshold that sobering reality remains a daunting challenge. As with the Conservative Party and other small parties before them, potential voters will have to be persuaded that the Opportunity Party can make a difference, and that therefore a vote for it would not be wasted.

Kerre Woodham: The more they crack down, the better

I read the Stuff story this morning and thought, "Oh, cry me a river!" Do the student loan evaders who finally get nabbed really expect sympathy when they bleat to the media?

Stuff this morning has the story of Vic, not his real name. He was at Wellington Airport last month heading home to Australia where he's lived and worked as a medical specialist for three, how many Kerry? Three decades, 30 years, when three police officers approached. He was arrested, spent three nights in custody, and at a court hearing had his passport confiscated. He's still here, Stuff writes, a month later, unable to work.

Mike's Minute: The conservation discussion shows our immaturity

It's been a bad week for maturity.

Trump suggesting Meloni begged for a photo op is all that is petty and pathetic about a bloke who has bigger fish to fry.

Simeon Brown treating his business partners with verbal contempt by calling them children is not the crime of the century, but it's also not good conduct from people running countries.

But it all pales against the astonishing nonsense peddled, mainly on social media, by those opposed to these so-called conservation changes.

Saturday June 27, 2026 

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Anglo Saxon: More racism from Health New Zealand - where's the memo Minister?

The heavily Marxified Health New Zealand has been battling with Minister Simeon Brown. Another notorious job vacancy has mandated full Maori victimhood ideological indoctrination as a must have for, of all jobs a dental assistant - Health New Zealand at Wanganui Hospital Remu House Dental Clinic.

Click to view

Insights From Social Media: A Nation Undivided

A NATION UNDIVIDED

In the shadow of 1840's solemn word,
Where chiefs and Crown once forged a single path,
We stand as one beneath the Southern Cross—
Not fractured tribes, but Kiwis born of shared resolve.

Gerry Eckhoff: Realities of the Toxic Willow

When the political fog descends and obfuscates an issue such as water quality, the truth and clarity can remain hard to find. It is as though the authorities have decided that no further available evidence or action is required - so the fog remains.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Who feels sorry for the doctor arrested over student loan debt?

Right, hands up — who felt sorry for the doctor arrested at the border for not paying back his student loan?

So the details are: this chap owes almost $180,000. Yes, he admits he should have responded to IRD on the multiple occasions they tried to contact him — but he didn’t. And he says he didn’t realise how much money he owed until just recently.