Ani O'Brien: The Nursing & Medical Councils make political views compulsory

Inside the ideological capture of New Zealand’s health sector

If you are a nurse in New Zealand in 2026, the Nursing Council has decided that your clinical competence is no longer enough. It wants to control your character, politics, beliefs, and how you behave when you are off the clock. In its draft Code of Conduct, the Council states that because nurses must have the trust of the public to undertake their professional role, “they must also have an appropriate standard of behaviour in their personal lives.”

David Farrar: Throw it out

The Local Government Commission has published a draft code of conduct for local authority members. The idea is to have a standard one as best practice, but what truely have come up with is so terrible it should be scrapped.