Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: What problems will buying back BNZ solve?

Here’s a question for you: if you really like Winston Peters’ idea of buying back the BNZ - why? What problem do you think will be solved by buying it back?

Do you think the banks are ripping you off because they’re owned by Australians, and that if only one of them were owned by us again, they wouldn’t?

Ryan Bridge: A clean up of cabinet is overdue

In February last year I wrote a piece for the Herald about government department and Ministerial overload.

It was partly informed by observation and partly by New Zealand Initiative paper on the subject.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 17.5.26

Tuesday May 19, 2026 

News:
Ngāti Whakaue’s iwi-led Rotorua housing development starts at Ngongotahā
The first stage of an iwi-led housing development at Ngongotahā has been marked with a sod-turning ceremony.

MPs, councillors and neighbours gathered at Stembridge Rd on Friday for the ceremony, which was touted as a “landmark moment” in the effort to address Rotorua’s housing shortage.

Mike's Minute: Do the unions have anything positive to say about education?

Can anyone tell me why literally everything that is ever done in the education space is rejected, hated and railed against by the unions?

Have the education unions ever not asked for more money, more resources or more non-contact time, while at the same time telling you everything in the classroom is crap?

DTNZ: Peters unveils KiwiSaver-from-birth scheme and BNZ buyback plan

NZ First leader Winston Peters has announced a pair of major economic policies, including compulsory KiwiSaver enrolment at birth with a $1000 Crown contribution and a proposal to buy back the Bank of New Zealand from Australian ownership.

Speaking at a campaign event in West Auckland today Peters said every New Zealand citizen would automatically become a KiwiSaver member at birth under what he called the “KiwiSaver Generation” policy.

Philip Crump: CENSORED

How the establishment tried to kill a story and why it didn't work


On October 15, 2020, three weeks before the US presidential election, the New York Post broke a bombshell story detailing lurid allegations of drugs, prostitution and influence peddling by Hunter Biden, the troubled son of Democrat nominee Joe Biden. For a moment it threatened to be the determining factor in a knife-edge race between President Donald J. Trump and his Democrat challenger. But the broadcast and print media ignored the story. The Post’s Twitter account was locked, and Facebook’s algorithms prevented the story from spreading across its platform.

David Farrar: Is this the proof Winston is planning to go with Labour

One of the most common questions I get asked by audiences is whether NZ First will go with National or Labour after the election. My response is that there is no reason to not take Winston at his word when he says he has ruled out Labour.

But now a speech by Winston has given extreme doubt over his pledge not to go with Labour. In terms of how he will pay for his Marxist plan to nationalise the BNZ, he says:

David Harvey: Online Media Regulation - Continued

On Friday 15 May 2026, after a debate in Parliament, Minister Erica Stanford announced that the Bill introduced that would restrict access by under 16’s to certain social media platforms would be “paused”.

There was some discussion about whether or not this could in fact be done unilaterally. The Bill is on the agenda and to stop Parliament voting on the bill, the Government would have to rely on Opposition MPs agreeing to an 11th hour change to Parliament’s agenda.

But the reason for the “pause” is interesting and concerning. Stanford’s office said:

Damien Grant: The Estonia trip, the ‘Mean Girls’ parody and the fall of an FMA chair

There is an absurdity at the heart of our regulatory state. Civil servants, most of whom have never run a chicken coop, are given the state’s authority to regulate a sector that few have the competence to participate in. Imagine asking me to judge Japanese poetry. You get the idea.

Those that can, do. Those that cannot, regulate.

Peter Williams: A BoNkerZ idea

No Winston, we should not buy a big bank

Since my first vote in 1975 I’ve been pretty much around the party clock, although I never stopped at Green o’clock. Once I even put a tick beside a Social Credit candidate because Muldoon’s National was just impossible to support in 1981.

I’ve been with Labour and National and Act but in 2023 I went with New Zealand First. That’s because they promised us a proper inquiry into the covid response and that they would ensure if treaty principles were not to be defined, they would at least be taken out of most legislation.

David Farrar: Managing the fuel crisis

The Government announced:

The Government’s unprecedented contract with Z Energy for close to 90 million additional litres of diesel, equivalent to around nine days’ supply, has been signed, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones say.

This will make a real difference.

They also announced:

“Modelled scenarios indicate that it is highly unlikely we would ever get to Phase 3 or 4 of the Fuel Response Plan, but as a prudent Government we are ensuring that New Zealand is prepared for whatever the global environment brings. It is better to have a plan you don’t use, than to need one and be caught short.

Nicola Willis said the chance of moving to Phase 4 is less than 10%. In fact it is possible (not probable) that we may never go beyond Phase 1.

If we do go to Phase 4, the categories are:

• Critical users – priority and uncapped access. This includes emergency services, health, schools, courts, money services and lifeline utilities.
• Food and freight – uncapped access to fuel, subject to demand reduction requirements based on fuel‑saving plans. The Government would monitor adherence to fuel-saving plans through spot checks.
• Commercial and community users – same access as food and freight, but higher savings targets in their fuel-saving plans. This includes businesses and organisations other than food and freight.
• General public – transaction limits at the pump aimed at reducing overall fuel use by an amount greater than what is expected for other groups.

All looks pretty sensible, except I do wonder why media are included as a critical user, with a higher priority than food providers.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders

Monday May 18, 2026 

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John Raine: Don’t Back Down on the Education Reforms, Erica Stanford

The Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) has circled its wagons and is mounting a noisy counterattack on Education Minister Erica Stanford’s much-needed Education Reforms [1].   Last year it was loud objection (still ongoing) to the new literacy and numeracy curricula, solid science learning, and a lessening in the focus on the Treaty of Waitangi required of School boards. Now it is the pushback on the new NZCE Year 12-13 schools’ qualification which will have compulsory exams in every subject.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Is anyone looking out for businesses?

We need to talk about what Chris Hipkins has said about immigration.

First of all, Labour can frankly shut up accusing the Nats of anti-migrant rhetoric because this is a party that hasn’t got a leg to stand on when it comes to migration.

Ryan Bridge: Old school is the best school

In education, old school is the best kind of school.

Secondary students will be forced to learn science, as well as maths and English, in the fifth form.

They'll be graded, not on merit or achieved or whatever, but A+ to E.

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.