Dr Michael John Schmidt: Pragmatic Water Management

In my previous article “WCC’s Actions Are a National Moral Hazard”, the objection to transferring water assets was framed in moral and ethical terms: councils hold critical infrastructure in trust for the public, and irreversible transfers undermine trusteeship and create moral hazards by allowing responsibility to be exported rather than exercised.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: WCC’s Actions Are a National Moral Hazard

At the heart of the Wellington City Council’s (WCC) decision to transfer water assets to a new, externally governed entity lies a fundamental ethical failure. These assets were not created by the Council, nor do they belong to councillors in any moral sense. They were paid for by Wellingtonians over generations through rates, charges, and debt serviced by the public. The Council holds them in trust, charged with their care, maintenance, and prudent management on behalf of the community.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Christmas in the Colonies

Dear all,

Thanks for reading the columns I have written in 2025 and for the helpful comments. In celebration of Christmas and the New Year, I am sending you an interesting and entertaining poem.

This poem was written by Thomas Bracken (1841–1898) – the Irish-born New Zealand poet, journalist and politician. He is best known for writing “God Defend New Zealand”, which was adopted as the country’s national anthem. He published several volumes of poetry celebrating the New Zealand landscape and identity and also served as a member of parliament.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Why the Quiet on This?

Australia’s renewable energy sector has recently been jolted by the discovery of asbestos in the imported components of wind turbines. The material identified is ‘white asbestos’, banned in Australia since 2003. It is found in the brake and clutch pads used in the internal service lifts of turbine towers – the elevators that carry technicians up for maintenance. While the contamination is confined to a specific subsystem rather than blades or towers, the implications are serious. More seriously, ‘white asbestos’ was banned in New Zealand in 1984. It has long been recognised in this country that the substance is harmful.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Luxon’s Cosplay Will Lead to Failure

I’ve written two prior essays on this: one dissecting the structural incoherence of NZ’s proposed social media legislation and another diagnosing Christopher Luxon’s managerial style. Though the first wasn’t targeted at him directly, his recent promise to pass the Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill before Christmas 2025 proves both points. It’s a convergence of strategic failure and performative urgency – a case study in cosplay politics.

Luxon is not leading. He is floundering to achieve ‘something’ that might resemble leadership. But what he’s delivering is symbolic action dressed up as governance – hollow in conception and dangerous in its implications.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Unity Was Never the Starting Pointxxx

If Māori leaders want to build something lasting, they’ll need to change their attitudes and allegiances. They’ll need to build trust between hapū – not override it. And they’ll need to engage with history

On Sunday, 9 November 2025, Te Pāti Māori expelled two of its own MPs – Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris – after weeks of internal tension between the party’s elected representatives and its unelected leadership. Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer cited ‘serious breaches’ of the party’s constitution and ‘irreconcilable differences’. The vote was unanimous but here’s the unusual part: Kapa-Kingi’s electorate (Te Tai Tokerau) was excluded from the meeting and Ferris’s electorate (Te Tai Tonga) didn’t vote. That’s not just a procedural quirk – it raises real questions about how representative the process was.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: This Will Mean More Victims, Not Fewer

NZ’s social media crackdown

New Zealand is poised to follow France and Australia down a regulatory cul-de-sac – one paved with good intentions and riddled with structural failure. The proposed Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill, which seeks to bar under-16s from accessing social media without verified age checks, is not just ill-considered, it is a textbook example of enforcement-first governance that will generate new harms, empower criminal actors and criminalise the very youth it claims to protect.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: He Is Only a Manager

Luxon is no leader.

Christopher Luxon did not create New Zealand’s demographic bind – but in response he has chosen to fall back on what he knows: legacy managing, not leading. The result is that he is pursuing a managed-decline strategy.

The distinction matters. The country’s fertility rate has collapsed to a record low of 1.49 births per woman and our ageing population is placing unsustainable pressure on a superannuation system that was never designed for longevity at this scale. Yet Luxon’s Government continues to reinforce the very frameworks that deepen the crisis. This is not leadership – it is strategic negligence.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: What if the tariff strategy fails? (Trump tariff strategy, part three)

The concept of realpolitik was introduced by Ludwig von Rochau in the mid-19th century which describes:

* a pragmatic approach to politics that prioritises power dynamics and national interests over ideological or moral considerations.1

There are practical examples, such as Ronald Reagan’s Cold War diplomacy. Reagan combined firm ideological positions, such as his “evil empire” rhetoric2 (referring to Russia; Trump ‘channels’ this when he talks about China), with practical negotiations like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, in which both sides reduced their nuclear arsenals, demonstrating a calculated balance between ideological goals and geopolitical realities.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Trump’s tariff strategy explained (part two: ‘Looming Disaster’).

Recently we have seen a wave of historical illiteracy wash through the ‘economics community’. Comments like ‘this tariff strategy is reckless and never been seen before’1, 2, 3, 4 have been blasted across media in all forms. It is simply untrue.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Trump’s tariff strategy explained.

Listening to various people talk about Trump’s “tariff strategy” (TTS) – including some who are supposedly very knowledgeable – it’s becoming clear that many, even some members of our coalition Government, don’t truly understand it.

Many people misunderstand TTS because they fail to grasp how it works in practice, beyond the theoretical, and they are misled on the issue by the anti-Trump media and by those with a vested interest in undermining the strategy.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: The ‘Michael Plan’.

Trump has mooted that Gaza should be redeveloped – a motion for which he has been mocked and many conspiracy theories have sprung up about his suggestion, such as ‘ethnic cleansing’. However, what is demonstrated here is a lack of imagination, or will, from the detractors. People would rather criticise than use their imagination. To prove the possibility of there being, as Trump claims, a redevelopment solution, I am providing one.

Background

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Martial application.

I began writing an article on Christopher Luxon’s failures: specifically, his inability to gauge the public sentiment that brought the coalition to power and to implement the urgent political and economic changes New Zealand needs. He has failed to address the independent, ‘woke’ and arrogant actions of NZ’s ‘managerial class’, which operates contrary to coalition policies and lacks accountability. Examples are everywhere: from the unchecked replacement of New Zealand with Aotearoa, despite no public vote, to the creation of worthless DEI departments in institutions like the Reserve Bank.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Chinese cooking.

The China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is by now notoriously associated with corruption. Here are a three notable examples:

1 Malaysia’s 1MDB Scandal: The BRI has been linked to corruption in Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal, where Chinese officials allegedly agreed to bail out the state development fund by inflating the cost of infrastructure projects.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Good riddance to USAID.

A comment from my circle of TDS sufferers criticised Trump and Musk’s decision to defund USAID, claiming it ‘proves’ Trump is a heartless thug. However, this isn’t entirely accurate. The defunding has not occurred, though Trump has proposed significant changes to USAID, including a 90-day freeze on foreign aid and consolidating USAID under the State Department.1

Dr Michael John Schmidt: We’re Copping It – Climate Fraud

About a week ago, I wrote an article called Who’s Copping It, highlighting how New Zealand is allocating $235 million NZD to COP initiatives, supposedly to fight climate change. This amount is expected to triple after 2026 due to a COP29 agreement. I criticised the celebration of this agreement for several reasons:

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Who Is Copping It?

According to Stuff, the “NZ climate change minister celebrates COP29 carbon market deal”.(1) I don’t see why: it is a calamity and the coalition should be ashamed.

New Zealand already pays NZD 235 million annually to the COP (Conference of Parties) and will continue to do so until 2026. With COP29, contributions from ‘rich’ countries are set to triple, rising from USD 100 billion to USD 300 billion annually.(1) This means higher costs for countries like New Zealand while benefiting nations such as China and India.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Free speech under fire in the UK.

You may have noticed the lack of a Letter from the North recently, so I hope the following explains.

It is very difficult now to understand what I can and can’t write because of the plague of non-crime hate incidents (NCHI) being investigated by the police. If someone complains about something that has been said, written, broadcast or otherwise communicated, then the police can investigate.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Māori privilege and media paradox.

It’s ironic that TV1, RNZ, and similar media outlets so strongly support the current hīkoi process opposing David Seymour’s call for a discussion of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – so much for the impartial and investigative press. These mainstream media organisations face severe economic challenges: TV1 lost $85 million in 2023, and RNZ lost $1.4 million.(1, 2) Meanwhile, the Māori groups they champion are thriving, despite these groups portraying themselves as marginalised, disadvantaged and at risk of ‘losing rights’.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: Ignoring government policies with impunity.

On 10 November, I went to the LinkedIn employment section and saw the following role advertised.