Breaking Views Update: Week of 17.5.26

Thursday May 21, 2026 

News:
Government updates official branding to highlight English over te reo Māori
The government has updated its official branding to give greater prominence to English over te reo Māori, following a directive from new Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith.

The Public Service Commission sent the new logo to all ministries and departments this week, telling them to update their websites by the end of June, in line with the coalition's English-first policy.

Ani O'Brien: The Public Service isn’t a six-figure welfare scheme

Some super quick thoughts on the public service reforms

The reaction to Nicola Willis’ pre-Budget speech today went full throttle before she had even delivered it. The proposals were not especially radical, but you would not know this if you interacted with any media today. It was astounding how quickly large sections of New Zealand’s political and media class moved to attack the measures intended to save money and make our government more efficient. The arguments for consolidating our public service and tightening our belts were shut down before they could even properly be debated.

JC: How to Win Big Revealed in Poll

Immediately after the Australian budget Roy Morgan ran a snap poll across 2,348 voters Australia-wide to see where the parties sat in terms of popularity. The poll revealed some staggering numbers. The reasons were listed in detail and many of them could apply equally to the political situation in this country. If National, in particular, want to win big they should take heed of the reasons given for the increased support shown for Pauline Hanson's nationalist party One Nation.

David Farrar: Labour to release key policy after the election!!!

The Herald reports:

Labour has admitted key details about its Future Fund, including the cost to the Crown and which state assets will be rolled into it, will not be released until after voters have gone to the polls.

On Tuesday, Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds admitted the party doesn’t itself know which public assets will go in the fund, and won’t know until it gets advice from officials after the election.

Richard Prebble: AI Could Make Big Government Even Bigger

On a flight to Wellington the passenger beside me introduced himself.

“I’m from IBM. We are developing for Railways a world-leading wages management system.”

All my alarm bells went off.

Mike's Minute: Labour's lack of detail show they've learned nothing

So let me get this right, just so we know where we’re at.

The Labour Party —who, I'm assuming, still want to be taken seriously this election— have had a major issue up to this point.

They have no policies.

Dr James Allan: No, Trump Hasn’t “Undermined the Rule of Law”

In two recent articles in the pages of Quadrant (March 2026 issue ‘The Temptations of Unfreedom Revisited’ and May 2026 issue ‘Nasty, Brutish and Short-Sighted’), Oliver Hartwich has spent considerable time attacking US President Donald Trump. In the first of these, Hartwich alleged that Trump has systematically violated the rule of law. And that he has undermined the institutional integrity of the courts, law enforcement and the civil service. And that he has weaponised the Justice Department against his political foes. The listed vices go on.

Bob Edlin: City councils: transparency about a suspension in Dunedin but mystery about a resignation in Wellington

RNZ left little room for wondering about Dunedin city councillor Benedict Wong’s suspension from all committees and subcommittees for nine months “because of concerns about his behaviour”.

Wong faced a code of conduct complaint after revealing details about a potential hotel development at Forsyth Barr Stadium to reporters in April.

David Farrar: Government to trim 8,700 public servants

Nicola Willis and Paul Goldsmith have announced the following:

• A target to return the ratio of public servants to the population of 1.0%, meaning a target of 55,000 by 2029

• A sinking lid on operating budgets for agencies that will save $2.4 billion with greater use of AI

• A reduction in the number of core department and ministries from 39 (Australia has 16)

Wednesday May 20, 2026 

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Ryan Bridge: The public service cuts didn't come out of nowhere

We got the inevitable Grinch headlines from the media yesterday, powered by union panic.

The public service knew this was coming. Or should have. Judith Collins, Nicola Willis and Sir Brian Roche have been talking about this since they all got into office.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Let's make a start on unwinding years of public sector bloat

As you’d expect, I’m a huge fan of Nicola Willis’ plan to cut down the size of the public sector.

This is the second issue I’ve been harping on about to her. The other one was, obviously, the fees-free year for university students. So I’m stoked that, on this show, we’re two from two in terms of agitating for cutting back on wasteful public spending.

Mike's Minute: Here's what the 2026 Election is about

I'm 100% convinced this election is about the economy.

Do people blame the Government in any way for the economic fallout from war?

Does the economic grind make you look to other political answers?

Graham Adams: Hipkins drags out Phoney War with Coalition

After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 there was an eight-month period in which there were a few brief skirmishes but very little significant fighting on land. The standoff in Western Europe was dubbed the “Phoney War”, the “Bore War”, and the “sitzkrieg” (“the sitting war” — in contrast to the blitzkrieg inflicted on Poland).

Military action was mainly carried out at sea until Hitler’s lightning invasion of Norway in April 1940 sparked serious hostilities.

Richard Prebble: At last, a serious speech from the Prime Minister

Christopher Luxon gave last week his most substantive speech as Prime Minister. Apparently, he wrote it himself.

Prime Ministers are usually too busy to write their own speeches. Their speeches are stitched together by advisers and shaped by polling and focus groups.

Luxon attempted something much harder. He set out a worldview and an agenda for the country.

John McLean: Parliament Passing Legislation Is.....Undemocratic!?

Whacky reactions to proposed legislation extinguishing crazy climate Court cases

On Tuesday 12 May, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced a legislative reform to stop New Zealand Courts forcing “greenhouse gas”-producing businesses to compensate New Zealanders for damage from bad weather. The yet-to-be-drafted legislation will amend New Zealand’s Climate Change Response Act 2002.

The legislation will have the particular effect of extinguishing current Court action by a race hustler with a boring name. I’ve covered Mike Smith’s judicial machinations in a previous Substack.

Gary Judd KC: Submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee on the New Zealand....

Submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee on the New Zealand - India Free Trade Agreement

Voters are entitled to be angry

Submissions on the FTA closed at midnight last night. In the nick of time, I lodged a submission which largely follows The Sting in the India Trade Deal. It also added this:

Ashley Church: Europe’s de facto referendum on Israel

Why Eurovision matters right now

For nearly three years now, a moral, cultural and political battle about Israel has been raging across the West.

On one side are those who still remember the lessons of history and who recognise the ancient hatred of the Jewish people, even when they see it wearing new clothes.

On the other side are those who have chosen to excuse, minimise, rationalise or even celebrate evil, so long as that evil is directed at Israel.

Andrew Dickens: Parents are responsible for avoiding 'credit crunching'

The government has confirmed major changes to New Zealand’s secondary school qualification system, officially replacing NCEA with a new subject-based model.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford announced the shift in Orewa, saying the current NCEA system is too complex and doesn’t clearly show how well students have mastered their subjects.

Bob Edlin: Constitutional change affects funding of Parliament....

Constitutional change affects funding of Parliament – and reminds us of the Ombudsman’s rebalancing

RNZ has drawn attention to a procedural motion in Parliament last week which “quietly marked one of the more significant constitutional changes of recent years”.

It dealt with the issue of how Parliament is funded.

The Notice of Motion from Leader of the House Louise Upston concerning the estimates (budgets) for the three officers of Parliament and the Parliamentary agencies lasted five minutes on Wednesday evening and flew under most people’s radars.