Bob Edlin: Todd McClay can see a difference between Air NZ and supermarkets....

....but Luxon ducked the question

Gerry Brownlee – who has ordered three MPs from the House of Representatives this week – seems to have lost the sense of humour that has been a feature of his term as Speaker.

Kevin: She Must Be Taking Lessons From Chlöe

Opportunity leader Qiulae 7ong has defended accepting more than $400,000 in political donations this year while campaigning to ban them, saying the party has to “play the game with everyone else” to get into parliament.

[…] But the party’s leader was grilled as she appeared on Q+A this morning.

Peter Williams: Swarbrick and her unchallenged claims

If we don't reach climate targets it doesn't matter

Chloe Swarbrick makes ridiculous and outrageous statements, most of which go unchallenged by a sympathetic media.

Here’s the latest nonsense.

Colinxy: Is There a “Cost of Greed” Crisis?

Chlöe Swarbrick recently declared that New Zealand is facing a “Cost of Greed Crisis.” It’s a catchy line; the sort of slogan that fits neatly into a press release and even more neatly into a worldview where every social problem is caused by someone else having too much.

But let’s take the claim seriously for a moment. Is there a “Cost of Greed Crisis”?

Surprisingly, yes. But not in the way Swarbrick imagines.

Bob Edlin: Green MP wins gold for gift of the gab....

Green MP wins gold for gift of the gab – but a party co-leader scores much better for media attention

The PoO team was surprised to learn from The Post that Lawrence Xu-Nan, a first-term Green MP, has spoken more in Parliament than any other MP this term.

Not by a little either – Xu-Nan has said 420,000 words, over four times the 102,000 words the average MP has managed.

Bob Edlin: The name that shall not be spoken in Parliament....

The name that shall not be spoken in Parliament – you can find it in the third paragraph below

By the time MPs had taken their seats in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, The Post had named the official who (the newspaper contended) had received briefing notes from Z Energy and Fonterra which, curiously, have disappeared.

Mike's Minute: Is Chlöe Swarbrick a bit useless?

I wonder if it's time to ask the question – is Chlöe Swarbrick a bit useless?

In the Herald's vast poll churn that produces the chances of the current Government being re-elected at about 88%, is the real revelation that the Greens have been going backwards since the last election?

The trouble appears twofold;

David Harvey: Unawareness, Blind Ignorance and a Sense of Unreality

The Green Party Proposals for Electrification as an Answer to the Fuel Crisis

Mainstream Media reports that the Green Party will campaign on mass electrification for the election, saying the sun, wind, water and geothermal energy “don’t come through the Strait of Hormuz”.

Chloe Swarbrick with that wild-eyed enthusiasm that only she is capable of offers a simplistic solution. I use the word “simplistic” advisedly. She herself says the solution is simple.

She says:

Bob Edlin: If numbers of homeless rose, it would be great to think Luxon changed tack.....

If numbers of homeless rose, it would be great to think Luxon changed tack – but he shows no sign of a flair for flexibility

Hoping to keep sweet with Donald Trump probably explains why the PM wriggles, writhes and squirms when asked about the legality of the American attack on Iran.

His failure to answer questions about domestic issues is not so understandable.

For example, the Greens’ Chlöe Swarbrick yesterday asked in Parliament:

Pee Kay: English Language Bill is “bullsh*t”

So says Chloe!

The government has introduced a bill to make English an official language, to ridicule from the opposition, and a fierce defence from Winston Peters.

The legislation would see English be recognised as an official language alongside Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.

Just two pages long, the legislation states that English has long been a de facto official language, but not set out in legislation.

JC: Where Are the Tea Towels Chlöe?

Not your Palestinian dish driers. I’m talking about flag-bearing ones representing the Shah when Iran was a trusted allay of the West. The ones signifying the slaughter of up to 50,000 of its people by the Iranian regime. The ones that show support for the other 40,000 who have been imprisoned. The ones showing solidarity with a population risking their lives to rid themselves of a terrorist regime. The ones that support a taking down of the terrorist funding regime so the whole of the Middle East can be changed and improved. The ones that, if the regime were removed, will improve the lives of those you were wearing tea towels to support.

Peter Bassett: Knocking on Doors, Pretending Not to Notice the Stairwell Is on Fire

Chlöe Swarbrick wants the Greens out knocking on doors.

Not metaphorically. Literally. Imagine her pounding the streets of Auckland Central, her home electorate — clipboard in hand, optimism applied like a hi-vis vest.

Graham Adams - Election 2026: Swarbrick’s plan for Green supremacy falters

When Chlöe Swarbrick became the Greens’ co-leader in March 2024, she announced that she wanted the party to go “mainstream”.

Her professed aim was to supplant the Labour Party to ultimately form “the nation’s first Green-led government”, all without compromising the movement’s core values.

Kevin: Thoughts for the Year

As it’s the end of the year I’d thought I’d do a ‘thoughts of the year’ post – a list of things and events that were important to me. So, in no particular order:

The Murder of Charlie Kirk

Here, it’s not so much his murder, which was a tragedy, but the reaction of his detractors: from outright mocking to lying and taking what he said out context. I really have no words for the staggering level of vitriol, although I’m not sure if even vitriol is the right word.

JD: The Bell Tolls for NZ Investment

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

The Chloe clanger.

Probably one of the most damaging statements ever made by a
politician fell out of the mouth of Chloë Swarbrick recently in the Herald
Now channel. Paraphrasing, she said that because the Fast Track
legislation was “illegitimate”, the Greens, when in the next government,
will cancel all the mining consents issued under this law.

Matua Kahurangi: Chlöe Swarbrick - Fighting for Gaza while ignoring Auckland’s homeless crisis

According to official information posted on X by political commentator Suit and Tie, and released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA), Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick has had just one formal meeting with Mayor Wayne Brown to discuss homelessness in the past 19 months.

Bob Edlin: Middle East ceasefire is widely celebrated.....

Middle East ceasefire is widely celebrated – but Peters notes that the pro-Palestine protesters have been silent

Come in Chloe and your fellow champions of Palestinian statehood and tell us what you think of happenings in the Middle East in recent days.

There was widespread celebration – not only in Israel and Gaza but around the world – of news of a cease-fire and that the hostages taken by Hamas terrorists two years ago would be freed.

Damien Grant: Chlöe Swarbrick, how should we define her contribution to politics?

The claim being advanced by Winston Peters and others that Chlöe Swarbrick’s language contributed to the attack on his house is, possibly, correct, but in a liberal democracy this should not constrain the Green co-leader from her choice of words.


Those of us in the free speech community hold firm to the belief against the ‘heckler’s veto’, sometimes rephrased for effect as the ‘thug’s veto’. The possibility that someone might protest what you are going to say should not result in your event being cancelled.

Chris Lynch: The Greens have crossed a line they cannot take back

The activist class in New Zealand has perfected the art of playing the victim.

Every time they are challenged, they cry persecution.

Every time they are criticised, they claim oppression.

David Farrar: The gift of the Greens

Roger Partridge writes:

The Greens’ coronation of Chlöe Swarbrick at last weekend’s AGM delivered a manifesto for economic transformation that would make Soviet economists nostalgic for their glory days.

Swarbrick delivered a speech that was part meditation retreat, part political rally. She declared her party “leading the Opposition,” positioned herself as Finance Minister-in-waiting, and announced her intention to overhaul capitalism.