Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - The Electricity rip-off that politicians won’t fix

Something has to give with New Zealand’s electricity market. And this week, the numbers arrived to prove it.

The Big Four gentailers (Contact, Genesis, Meridian and Mercury) have just reported combined operating earnings of $1.86 billion for the six months to December 2025. That’s a jump of roughly 45% on the same period last year. Their combined dividend payouts rose 10% to $551 million. Meanwhile, the amount they actually invested in new generation was flat.

Barrie Saunders: Engineers – your country needs you

The essence of the 226 page Infrastructure Commission report is that NZ spends enough on infrastructure, but the value we get is poor compared with like countries. No doubt the terrain and small population thinly spread, will partly explain our underperformance, but I think there is a critical extra element.

This is the paucity of qualified engineers in key decision making roles. Cabinet and Councils are constantly making big decisions having to rely on consultants etc rather than by using their practical real world experience. Excessive reliance on consultants is foolish and expensive.

Pee Kay: We’ve Been Shunned!

Oh, the unbearable betrayal! We’ve been officially ghosted, discarded like a lukewarm flat white!

Apparently, we’ve been given the Ardern elbow for Albo!

Colinxy: Medical Council of New Zealand Pushing for Neo-Marxist Praxis.........

Medical Council of New Zealand Pushing for Neo-Marxist Praxis: A Lysenkoist Drift in Professional Regulation

The Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) has released draft statements on cultural competence, cultural safety, and Hauora Māori. These documents are presented as neutral professional guidance, but their structure, language, and underlying assumptions reveal a clear ideological lineage. They embed Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, Critical Indigeneity, and decolonisation ideology into the regulatory framework governing medical practice.

Robert Bradley Jnr: Nuclear Power Needs Realism, Freedom

What US industry is the most subsidized and regulated by the federal government? If you answered nuclear power, you are correct.

As a result, the 70-year “Atoms for Peace” program represents the most expensive failure (malinvestment) in US business with a history of uncompleted projects and massive cost overruns, as well as future decommissioning liabilities.

Corey Smith: When Indoctrination Masquerades as Education

New Hampshire Republicans recently pushed a bill through the state House to prohibit public schools from teaching curricula such as critical race theory, LGBTQ, and gender ideology. The bill, titled the CHARLIE Act (Countering Hate and Revolutionary Leftist Indoctrination in Education), is named after the late conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk. It was partly inspired by the discovery of race-based training materials in handouts and in recommended reading found in three NH cities, including Manchester, the largest city north of Boston. The measure has predictably caused arguments between both parties in the Granite State.

Melanie Phillips: Chickens coming home to roost

The Greens' by-election victory signifies a cultural and political emergency for Britain

Britain has woken up to a victory by the Greens in the Gorton and Denton by-election. The Greens’ Hannah Spencer, a 34 year-old plumber, now becomes the Member of Parliament for the constituency which has been Labour since 1931. Labour was pushed into third place with Reform coming second.

Mike's Minute: Air NZ has issues and the turnaround is a way off

There is no doubt that Air New Zealand has issues.

In a week of company reports, the vast majority contained good news. Air New Zealand was a glaring exception.

A national airline losing money in an industry that is booming doesn’t make sense.

Saturday February 28, 2026 

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Geoff Parker: Margaret Mutu and the Case Against Equal Citizenship

Why ancestry-based governance undermines democracy

In a recent appearance on Q+A, Margaret Mutu advanced arguments implying that Māori never ceded sovereignty, that New Zealand is fundamentally a Māori country, and that democratic structures should be reshaped to reflect Māori authority.

It is a powerful narrative. It is also one that collapses under constitutional scrutiny.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: When will the Christchurch Cathedral get repaired?

Tell me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that every single year the Anglican Church in this country delays repairing the Christchurch Cathedral, the public cares a little less about seeing it restored. And yet again, the Anglicans are asking for money to fix the thing.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 22.2.26

Saturday February 28, 2026 

News:
Protest and partnership: The paradox of Māori charter schools under Seymour
Against that backdrop, it may seem difficult to reconcile why Seymour has strongly backed and approved funding for a significant number of kaupapa Māori charter schools.

In the past week alone, he has announced two new kaupapa Māori charter schools, bringing the total number of Māori-focused charter schools to seven of the 20 approved nationwide, more than a third, with more expected.

Vance Ginn: Capitalism’s Coalition Is Cracking — And That Should Worry Us

Free-market capitalism still delivers the goods. But its political coalition is fracturing — and that should worry anyone who cares about prosperity and freedom.

Recent Gallup polling on Americans’ views of capitalism and socialism shows that just 54 percent now view capitalism favorably, the lowest Gallup has recorded. Views of socialism remain much lower at 39 percent, but the direction matters. Support for capitalism has fallen notably over time, especially among independents and younger Americans.

DTNZ: Power bills set to rise as network costs push prices higher

Meridian Energy says household electricity bills could increase by up to seven percent this year, driven largely by rising lines and transmission charges rather than wholesale energy costs.

The company reported a half-year profit of $227 million after a loss the previous year, with chief executive Mike Roan stating that regulated infrastructure costs set by the Commerce Commission were higher than expected and would continue flowing through to consumers over coming years.

Roger Partridge: A President unbound - Trump’s second term and the erosion of constitutional constraint

On 5 February 2026, Donald Trump stood before the National Prayer Breakfast. The room was full of the faithful – pastors, politicians, and conservative leaders who had long believed that America’s renewal required a strong hand. Trump was asked about accusations that he had weaponised the Department of Justice against political opponents. His reply was disarmingly candid. “I don’t,” he said, “but wouldn’t I have a right to?”

The audience laughed. Some applauded.

Nick Clark: The RMA reform we were promised is not the reform we got

New Zealand has been trying to fix its resource management system for the better part of three decades. The Resource Management Act has been amended virtually every year since 1991 and reviewed several times during that period. Yet reform has consistently failed.

The RMA has defeated its own purpose. It aimed to deliver sustainable management. Instead, it delivered a housing crisis, $1.3 billion a year in infrastructure consenting costs, 1,175 different zoning categories, and declines in freshwater quality and indigenous biodiversity - the environmental outcomes most directly within the planning system's control.

Peter Williams: Make New Zealand Healthy Again

New Zealand is spending record sums on healthcare while growing sicker by the year. What if the real solution isn’t more hospitals and doctors — but fewer sick people?

As the old sage Confucius is supposed to have observed around 500 BC, “A healthy man wants a thousand things; a sick man wants only one.”

Two and a half millennia later, that observation feels uncomfortably current. We are living longer, but we are not necessarily living healthier. New Zealand’s average life expectancy has risen by roughly 18 years over the last century—from about 65 years in 1926 to around 83 today.

Kerre Woodham: Volunteers deserve trauma counselling cover

I can't even believe we're having to discuss this, but we are. It seems absolutely ludicrous that drunk drivers who say, kill their passengers, maim their passengers, smash their own selves up after crashing their vehicles —hopefully not into innocent victims, but sometimes it will be— are able to claim ACC, but the volunteer firefighters and the first responders who are volunteers who respond to the crash and have to deal with the horror of the aftermath, quite often they will know the people involved if it happens in a small community. If they're the ones that have to unwrap a kid from a drive shaft, they are not able to claim ACC for trauma counselling or PTSD. What they do is considered a leisure activity.

Bob Edlin: After calling to dump the royal family......Maxwell might muse on the Maori monarchy

After calling to dump the royal family, because of Andrew’s transgressions, Maxwell might muse on the Maori monarchy

We learn today how Stuff columnist Joel Maxwell gets his laughs. He has written:

David Farrar: Violent crime continue to plummet

This should be the major news story of the week, or month. The massive increase in violent crime under Labour has not just reversed, but has dropped to another low according to the latest crime data.