Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Who really believes Labour won't give us more taxes?

Hands up - who believes Labour when they say none of their political mates will be allowed to introduce their taxes in a future Labour-led Government?

This started on Mike's show, with Ginny Andersen on Politics Wednesday saying, "Nah, the Greens aren't going to be allowed to introduce their wealth tax, and nah, Te Pāti Māori isn't going to be allowed to introduce its land tax."

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I wouldn't be surprised if TOP peaks at 8 percent

So, I think some of the shine might be coming off the Opportunity Party. Helen Clark has taken to social media and described the leader's interview on Q+A on TVNZ as a "train wreck".

She said: "Simplistic responses trying to defend land tax, higher income tax, job cuts in the public sector. Fantasy posing as policy."

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Does Erica Stanford deserve the backlash?

So Erica Stanford denies she was preparing to stand for leader in the coup against Chris Luxon.

Now, no one with two eyes and even a basic understanding of politics is going to believe that story, because Erica Stanford was the only person whose name was in the leadership mix who refused to express confidence in Chris Luxon. Chris Bishop did. Mark Mitchell did. Even Chris Penk did. But not Erica Stanford.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Has Luxon made a mistake ruling out Opportunity?

You know what? I thought the Prime Minister was right to rule out working with Opportunity, until that One News-Verian poll. Now, I think he might have made a mistake.

I'm not 100 percent sure, but I'm starting to lean towards this being an error.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: National's in a worst of all worlds situation now

Chris Luxon stared them down and survived again.

Now, it sounds like both contenders, or at least both people who thought they were contenders, Erica Stanford and Chris Bishop, were reasonably confident they had the numbers to roll Luxon yesterday afternoon.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Things are not looking good for Chris Luxon

Well, as I warned you last night, they are coming for him again. The roll is on for Christopher Luxon.

I didn't think it was going to happen this fast, but I knew it was going to happen. After I got off the radio last night at 7 o'clock, it ramped up, Thomas Coughlan wrote a piece late in the evening for the Herald confirming that National MPs were again phoning each other about his leadership.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: You'd have to be naïve or foolish to believe National's promise this time around

How weird was National's re-announcement of its Budget Responsibility Rules? It was very weird. Essentially, National made exactly the same announcement that it made three years ago before the 2023 election.

First, it would strive for a surplus. Second, it would reduce debt. Third, it would cut Government spending.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Are the days of building big roads really over?

Yeah, I don't know what to make of Shane Jones's prediction last night that the days of building big roads are over. He was at this infrastructure debate in Wellington and he said, and I quote, I personally don't see ever another four-lane highway being built in New Zealand in my lifetime. The politicians are going to struggle to justify the cost.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: No-one was asking for an MMP referendum

Yeah, well, if Chris Luxon's week wasn't already bad, it's not much better.

Not after he apparently announced off the cuff on ZB Mornings with Kerre that he's going to hold an MMP referendum if he wins the election.

Now, where do I start with the problems with him doing this?

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We've got to stop nitpicking legitimate uses of Defence Force flights

Well, I've come back from holiday to find Christopher Luxon having the week from hell, haven't I? The small business comments, the Winston Peters "go back to where you came from" comments and now Choppergate.

The latest with Choppergate, by the way, is that the event Chris Luxon was telling Mike Hosking about on Monday, where he finished up in Whanganui at 10:30 and then had to get back to Auckland, was in fact a National Party fundraiser.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The amalgamation plans are descending into chaos

If you're a fan, like I am, of scrapping as many councils as possible because of how poorly the numpties on those councils are running the place, you're about to learn, as I am, that just because you and I like an idea doesn't mean everyone else does.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Why would New Zealand First make Stuart Nash resign?

Right, is it just me, or is there anyone else out there who thinks it's mighty rich of New Zealand First to force Stuart Nash to resign, given the candidates and MPs they have defended for some of the most outrageous things they have said?

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The fun outweighed the controversies at the World Cup

Well, I think we can probably call it: in the end, no one cared enough about the controversies at the Football World Cup. We all just had a really good time watching it.

Anyone hoping, and there were definitely people hoping, that this would be the World Cup where the corruption would finally be too much, the controversies would finally be too much, and something would be done about it, will be horribly disappointed.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Trump's stolen election claim reflects a nervous outlook for midterms

Question for you: was Donald Trump's speech to the American people a classic case of muddying the waters?

For Trump, it was a relatively short speech, about 40 minutes, in which he claimed there had been Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election, that there were extreme vulnerabilities in the election system that need to be closed and that China obtained more than 200 million American voter registration records. He then released a trove of documents that he claims back up these allegations.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government needs to prove what it said about co-governance wasn't just hot air

If anyone on a council at the moment can't understand why so many of us ratepayers are so hostile towards them, sometimes bordering on hatred, can I just suggest they take a look at what's going on with these agreements with iwi? That might actually give them a bit of an idea.

If you haven't followed this, Chris Bishop is planning to replace the Resource Management Act shortly and his replacement law will not allow councils to sign any more of these agreements.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: There's already a good punishment for councillors who misbehave

All right - given the level of hostility we have at the moment towards local body councillors and councils, I suspect there'll be plenty of support for the idea I'm about to tell you about. But I would caution against getting too excited because it's a terrible idea.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Paul Henry announcement is brilliant for ACT's campaign

How good is that Paul Henry announcement, eh? How good is that?

ACT sent out a little media advisory last night about 7:30pm, saying there would be a major announcement. It would not be a policy announcement, no exclusive would be offered and there would be no embargoed material.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: National's roading announcement was a massive letdown

Let's not pretend that this roading announcement is not a massive letdown for anyone who voted for the National Party believing it would deliver the roads it promised. It is a huge letdown.

Of the 15 Roads of National Significance promised following the last election, only six have construction dates: Takitimu North Link Stage 1 in Tauranga, Ōtaki to north of Levin, the Hawke's Bay Expressway, Warkworth to Te Hana, Cambridge to Piarere and the Ōmanawa Bridge. I don't even know where that is.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Anna Breman delivered a refreshingly boring OCR update

The Official Cash Rate has gone up by 25 basis points. This is the first rise we've seen in three years.

It was unanimous around the committee table that it needed to happen because of inflation. Even though petrol and diesel prices have fallen sharply since the Iran war ceasefire deal was struck, they're not back to pre-war levels yet and they won't be for some time. That, of course, is inflationary.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Did China break any rules with their nuclear missile test?

Let's talk about the Chinese test of that nuclear-capable missile. More specifically, let's talk about New Zealand's response to it, which was quite full-throated in its criticism of China.

I find myself unable to get as worked up about this as Winston Peters because, please correct me if I'm wrong, I can't see that China has actually broken any rules here. Before firing the missile, China alerted New Zealand, Australia and Japan, as required under international regulations governing tests of this nature.