Ani O'Brien: Waitangi 2026 - the year of in-fighting on the Left

Labour and Te Pāti Māori competed in the drama stakes airing their dirty laundry

Waitangi Day is an annual time of remembrance, renewal, grievance, self-flagellation, and competing narratives. The summer ritual at the Treaty Grounds is part civic commemoration, part political theatre, and part family reunion. It is also, the ultimate testing ground for the mettle of centre-right politicians. There is a difference between demonstrating respect and grovelling, and often leaders fall into the trap of the latter.

Waitangi is where speeches are met with heckling and iwi remind the Crown of nearly 200 years of promises as well as issue new demands. This year’s commemorations were charged with protest, apology and juicy gossip, yet they also contained glimmers of hope and common sense.

Pee Kay: The Theatre That is Politics

“It’s that kind of Aotearoa – generous, confident and united – that I want my children to grow up in.”

Does that comment resonate with you? Is that a statement that would influence the way you voted?

Other than the Aotearoa nonsense, yes it probably could influence the way I voted.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Don't forget a Chippy-led Government comes with Green baggage

You know what that Labour and Green Party unity news conference at Waitangi today looked like to me? It looked like desperation.

Parties don’t generally get other parties to stand next to them and hold their hands in an election year just to convince people to vote for them.

Matua Kahurangi: Coster exposes Hipkins - The Minister who knew everything and said nothing

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster’s interview with Jack Tame on Q&A is a bomb that has blown apart what little remained of Chris Hipkins’ political credibility. The timeline is clean, simple and devastating. It shows that Hipkins was fully briefed about Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s affair with a younger woman long before the matter erupted publicly. When the scandal finally broke, Hipkins reverted to his favourite political defence. He knew nothing. He remembered nothing. He was never told.

Coster’s account makes that position impossible to swallow.

Ani O'Brien: "Temu Chris" Thinks Big government with Labour's Future Fund

New Zealand Future Fund: Proof Labour never met a problem it couldn’t bureaucratise

It takes a special kind of political imagination to brand something as “the future” while simultaneously reviving the economic playbook of the 1970s. Perhaps Chris Hipkins will cling to the nickname “Temu Chris” because at least then no one will be calling him “Red Muldoon.” Surely nothing could be worse for the Labour leader than being “Piggy” in Dirty Dog sunnies.

David Farrar: Hysterical Hipkins

Chris Bishop notes:

Wow. Hipkins asked on radio why we don’t hear about ram raids any more and if they’ve stopped happening:

Direct quote – “Nah it’s cause your Tory owners at NZME have just decided not to put it on the front page any more. It’s still happening, it’s just NZME have decided that it’s not in the Government’s best interests and they do the National Party’s singing for them and so they’re not covering it as much any more.”

Ele Ludemann: Not just Auckland

Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19 suggests he doesn’t understand the full impact of his government’s response.:

Bruce Cotterill: Christopher Luxon’s growth strategy vs Chris Hipkins’ tax plans

Economic contrasts - Christopher Luxon’s growth strategy vs Chris Hipkins’ tax plans

I’ve been observing the Prime Minister over the past few weeks. I must admit there was a time when he didn’t have me convinced, but it feels like he’s growing into both the role and the enormity of the challenges that go with it.

As we’ve all heard, he is repeatedly stressing the importance of getting our economy back on track. He might feel like he’s repeating himself excessively, but there’s a two-pronged message in there. Firstly, an acknowledgment we’re off track. Secondly, a commitment he’s trying to turn that around.

Mike's Minute: The beginning of the end for Hipkins

It's only when you read the full detail in the latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll that you start to get a feel for where the Government currently sits.

Firstly, the poll is for corporate clients and reportage is usually limited to a few basic numbers, i.e. National up or down a point and added together that means “x” number of seats in the house.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Labour leader Hipkins' dishonesty....

Labour Leader & Former Education Minister Hipkins must be held to account for his maths mistakes & dishonesty about the economic implications of population ageing

In an interview with TVNZ's Jack Tame, Labour's Chris Hipkins mislead Tame & five million New Zealanders about the economic implications of population ageing, which he states requires imposing capital & asset taxes. 

Roger Partridge: The square root of nonsense

In a stunning display of temporal gymnastics, Labour leader Chris Hipkins has unveiled a novel explanation for New Zealand’s maths education crisis. He’s blaming it on a policy that Labour scrapped over six years ago.

Responding to the Coalition-government’s radical plan to actually teach children mathematics, Hipkins pointed the finger squarely at National Standards. That’s the John Key-led National government’s assessment system Hipkins consigned to the educational dustbin in 2017. In so doing, Hipkins has created a fascinating new branch of mathematics where cause and effect operate in reverse.

John MacDonald: It should be Labour apologising to cancer patients

When I was off sick last week, I was crook enough to need to see a couple of doctors. And I’m very glad Chris Hipkins wasn’t one of them.

Because, if he had been and if he was true to the noises he’s been making about the Government’s big cancer drugs announcement yesterday, then he’d probably spend all his time apologising to me for taking too long to work out what was actually wrong with me.

Which I wouldn’t give two hoots about as long as I knew what it was that was making me crook and how I was going to get better.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: NZ's Worst PM Ever - Chris Hipkins

NZ's Worst PM Ever, Chris Hipkins, Hit Kiwi Families with the Biggest Tax Hike in the Developed World

Whilst Australia newspapers are blaring the headline, "Australians flattened by biggest Tax Increase in World", if you look at the OECD figures released yesterday from its publication called, "Taxing Wages" (where that Aussie headline was sourced) it reveals a startling fact. Whilst Australia had the biggest increase in the tax wedge (i.e., the amount of taxes taken from your wage as a proportion of gross wages) for the average worker out of 40 developed countries (NZ is third highest) when it comes to families, NZ had the largest increase of all. If you look at column (4) in Table 2 below, the annual change in the 2022-23 year in the Family Tax Wedge in NZ was over 3%, with Poland second at 2.8%.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Can TV One Sided News Stop Misleading the Public

Can TV One Sided News Stop Misleading the Public on Vital Matters of State affecting our economic futures

OneNews strikes again - breaking the law by reporting biased news when it has a statutory obligation not to do so. Time it's sold off or broken up. The "news" team aren't worth the celluloid their faces appear on. Today they're screaming the headline, "Aucklanders are sceptical of the Mayors Ambitious Plans". Mayor Len Brown wants to sell Auckland Council's small minority holding of 10% of publicly listed company, Auckland Airport Ltd, and lease the port's business operations. It's a no-brainer for most economists.

David Farrar: Labour’s hysteria

Newshub reports:

Chris Hipkins has doubled down on his accusation the Government is acting like a dictatorship.

The labour leader took his troops on a soul-searching field trip today where one MP even momentarily likened the Coalition to russia's regime.

Lushington D. Brady: He Can’t Talk to Them!

Stuff Journo Astonished Hipkins Talks to Plunkett

Various studies have indicated that people on the left are far more intolerant of different opinions than the right. In fact, Pew research has shown that self-described “liberals” are twice as likely to block and unfriend someone on social media, because they expressed an opinion the “liberal” didn’t like. That behaviour carries over into real life, as well: “liberals” are vastly more likely to drop a friend because of their political views.

Derek Mackie: Labour - An Irreparable State of Mind

“Now Chris! Just lie back on the couch, relax, and let your mind empty. 

 That should be easy enough.” 

“If you say so, Dr Awlinurehed      [pron. All-in-your-head].” 

“Please, call me Izza. I strive to have a friendly, informal relationship with all my high-profile troubled clients.” 

 “You must thank Klaus again for me. I know you’re in high demand amongst the woke, Left-wing elite and I’m not deluded enough to think I’d get this appointment at short notice without his recommendation.” 

“I‘ll pass that on to Herr Schwab; he’s a close personal acquaintance.  And don’t underestimate your delusions, Chris. That’s my job, remember.

I regard it as a great honour to provide psychiatric counselling to the vanguard of the neo-Marxist movement, who do seem singularly prone to mental imbalance on a regular basis. Indeed, it has become a permanent condition for a disturbingly large contingent of the most notable - naming no names, of course.”

 “Surely not!  

Mind you, my predecessor was certainly acting oddly towards the end of her term in office.  Was she a client of yours?”  

“I couldn't possibly comment.

Now, what seems to be your problem?” 

Peter Dunne: Labour's rebuild

Over 2,500 years ago the legendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu observed that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

This week Labour began its journey of a thousand miles towards political rehabilitation. Its first step was the correct one to endorse Chris Hipkins as party leader. To do otherwise would have been extremely foolhardy.

John MacDonald: Has Labour kept Hipkins in case there's another election?

“I’m back.”

That’s what Chris Hipkins said to media after being reaffirmed as leader of the Labour Party. Kelvin Davis has stood aside as deputy and Carmel Sepuloni is now 2-I-C.

Chris Hipkins is going to be accused left, right, and centre of an enormous flip-flop in relation to a wealth tax and a capital gains tax. Because, remember how he said before the election, that neither of those would happen?

Today, he’s saying both of those things are back on the table. And what good is a mind if you can’t change it?

Garrick Tremain: Campaign trail

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on the campaign trail with hysterical Hipkins!