John McLean: Parliament Passing Legislation Is.....Undemocratic!?

Whacky reactions to proposed legislation extinguishing crazy climate Court cases

On Tuesday 12 May, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced a legislative reform to stop New Zealand Courts forcing “greenhouse gas”-producing businesses to compensate New Zealanders for damage from bad weather. The yet-to-be-drafted legislation will amend New Zealand’s Climate Change Response Act 2002.

The legislation will have the particular effect of extinguishing current Court action by a race hustler with a boring name. I’ve covered Mike Smith’s judicial machinations in a previous Substack.

Ian Wishart: ‘Son, your ego is writing cheques your body can’t cash’

It was memorable advice in the 1986 movie Top Gun, and it’s advice that Labour party alumni Phil Goff and Helen Clark should pay heed to still, as they make calls for NZ to take a “principled stand” on the Iran conflict.

Both those politicians (Clark, then a backbench MP and Goff, a cabinet minister) were members of a government that was publicly promising “New Zealand justice is not for sale, the convicted Rainbow Warrior bombers must serve their allotted sentences”, while behind the scenes we were furiously trying to sell that same justice system to the French, working out a plan to allow the prisoners to be deported swiftly.

Damien Grant: To Helen Clark - Sorry, but international law won't stop an Iranian nuke

How hard is international law? I see that Helen Clark has joined a growing phalanx of freshly graduated experts in the field so I thought I’d give it a go.


The basis of international law is the UN Charter which stipulates that one sovereign nation cannot attack another. Seems fair. However, Article 51 has an exception.

David Harvey: Unlawful

The UN Charter and the Iranian Conflict

Helen Clark and latterly Phil Goff have criticized the Government for failing to condemn the attack on Iran by the US and Israel. Ms Clark condemned the Government’s approach as servile towards the US and a disgrace.

The main argument advanced by Ms Clark is that the attacks were illegal. And she wants the Government to endorse that approach.

JC: Time Was Now – Lawful or Not

Politicians on the left are so predictable with their timing and their utterances – popping up to mouth self-righteous platitudes and arrant nonsense. For past politicians, it is a desperate attempt to try and stay relevant. In reality, it is a stark reminder of just how awful they were and a reminder not to vote for their ilk. Think of Blair, Hillary Clinton, Obama and our own Helen Clark, the Eden Park entertainment denier. These people are sanctimonious hypocrites who don’t live in the real world.

Bob Edlin: Politicians are chided for visiting Ukraine (Collins) and China (Clark and Key).....

Politicians are chided for visiting Ukraine (Collins) and China (Clark and Key) – but aren’t they free to choose where to go?

Three political big-wigs have drawn flak for their jet-setting.

Defence Minister Judith Collins has been denounced by Waikanae Watch for flying to Kyiv while former Prime Ministers Helen Clark and John Key have been criticised for flying to China.

Nick Clark: Time to modernise New Zealand’s gene technology rules

It is hard to believe today, but a TV interview about genetic modification (GM) once upended an election campaign. That interview cast a long shadow over the use of GM in New Zealand.

For those too young to remember, in July 2002, just a few weeks before a general election, Prime Minister Helen Clark was interviewed by TV3’s John Campbell. It was a fiery encounter. Campbell, citing an impending book by Nicky Hager, Seeds of Distrust, alleged that GM corn had been accidentally released into New Zealand’s food supply and the incident covered up.

Clark was blindsided by Campbell’s questioning and was visibly angry. Afterwards, she referred to him as a ’little creep’. ‘Corngate’ was born.

Rodney Hide: Helen Clark Declares Elon Musk a Nazi

I struggle to believe former Prime Minister Helen Clark thinks Elon Musk is a Nazi. That doesn’t stop her of accusing him of being one and of him advocating genocide.

Here’s her post on X on 26 January:

Ananish Chaudhuri: Is New Zealand in danger of lurching towards constitutional impropriety?

Lately, I am seeing a lot of articles that accuse the current government of imperiling New Zealand’s democracy. One of the more recent entries is by former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer arguing in Newsroom that “New Zealand is in danger of lurching towards constitutional impropriety.” He also writes that he is “concerned that our democracy is being weakened by the methods this Government is using to achieve its goals.”

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Former Labour PM's Clark and Ardern wrecked NZ's Health System...

Former Labour PM's Clark and Ardern wrecked NZ's Health System & should be held accountable for the lost lives.

Enough is enough. Former PMs Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern should come clean about how they were the Chief Architects of the omni-shambles that has become our health system. They should take responsibility for the folks who suffered from long waiting lists and declining health-care quality, some of whom didn't make it. Why?

Cam Slater: When Are People Going to Realise the CCP Are Not Our Friends?

First Helen Clark, then John Key, prostrated themselves before the CCP and all the while these sneaky little scumbags have been undermining our democracy. I can’t wait to see the next op-ed from John Key telling us all that the Chinese are our best mates: it can’t be far off after the latest revelations in Stuff about illicit activities by the CCP in New Zealand.

Nick Hanne: The Censors who'll save us from ourselves......yeah right!

There's a common malady suffered by bureaucracies the world over. They wish to save us from ourselves. Sadly, NZ officials are no less prone to exhibiting symptoms of this occupational condition.

Observe, for instance, the reaction from certain public figures to the news the Department of Internal Affairs has abandoned the formation of a new online super regulator. Without the new state entity criminal activity, according to these critics, we’ll now have free rein on the internet.

Cam Slater: Would Helen Clark Please Just STFU

Most Kiwis prefer their past Prime Ministers to either be dead or silent, but since Helen Clark shuffled off in ignominy in 2008 after being trounced in the election by John Key, neither she nor Key have managed to put a cork in it. Bill English thankfully has barely uttered a squeak, but don’t even get me started on Jim Bolger and Jacinda Ardern.

Simon O'Connor: Extraordinary blindness

A response to Helen Clark and Don Brash's outdated views on AUKUS, China, and New Zealand.

The recent opinion piece by Helen Clark and Dr Don Brash is extraordinary, and not in a good way (you can read here [paywalled unfortunately]). Like other former leaders writing on the China question, they are living in the past – drawing on old perspectives to address the very real global challenges of today. Yes, China is an important trading partner for New Zealand – our largest and most important, and we must do all we can to nurture this trading relationship. But simultaneously we need to acknowledge the Chinese Communist Party is also a challenge to the rule of law, democracy, and the international order both in the Pacific and here in New Zealand.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: The Old Guard of Helen Clark and Don Brash are Out of Touch

Time to Hand the Torch to a New Generation

In a bizarre jointly written Opinion Piece, former Labour PM Helen Clark and Leader of the National Party Don Brash have written an article criticizing the new coalition for indicating NZ maybe keen to participate in the Aukus defence alliance between Australia, the UK and US. They start by saying, "In 1985, the NZ Labour Government made it clear that nuclear weapons were so terrible - in the full meaning of that word - that as a country we had no wish to be defended by them. As a result, we were rather unceremoniously ejected from the Anzus alliance which to that point had linked Australia, NZ and the US". That is far from the truth - a large part of the reason I heard persuasively stated at the time was that should a ship carrying nukes be in our waters when war broke out, that would make NZ a nuclear target. We feared being attacked by nukes, not defended by them.

Point of Order: Jackson and the Treaty

It seems he has forgotten what Lange said about partnership and why Clark wouldn’t sign UN declaration

Let’s hear it for Labour’s Willie Jackson, a minister of this, that and the other in the Hipkins government and a fellow with a curious grasp of what happened in the days of David Lange and Helen Clark.

In Parliament yesterday, Jackson said ACT leader has a lot to answer for:

Chris Trotter: It Was Twenty Years Ago Today - More at Stake Than Sun and Sand.

“An unhappy summer” is the prediction of at least one of the Maori leaders laying claim to the foreshore and seabed in response to the Government’s declaration that New Zealand’s beaches and coastal waters lie in the “public domain” - i.e. belong to all of us.

Maori nationalists have raised the prospect of fencing off public beaches and requiring non-Maori to apply for “visas” before being granted access. Titewhai Harawira has gone even further, denouncing the Government’s proposals as another “confiscation” of Maori property rights, and threatening to organise a nationwide march on Parliament in protest.

Dominic O'Sullivan: A retiring NZ MP has suggested joining Australia

– we should at least think about it (before saying no)

Big policy ideas usually don’t come up in parliamentary valedictory speeches – they’re for saying goodbye and thank you. So departing Labour MP Jamie Strange was the exception last week when he made a case for New Zealand and Australia becoming one country.

Chris Trotter: Lord Liverpool's Ghost.

When New Zealand went to war on 5 August 1914 it was by vice-regal declaration. The Governor of New Zealand, Arthur William de Brito Savile Foljambe, the Second Lord Liverpool, chose to announce the commencement of hostilities with Germany from the steps of what is now the General Assembly Library. Although the country’s leading politicians were gathered around him, there wasn’t even the slightest nod in the direction of democracy. Neither the House of Representatives, nor the Legislative Council, saw any need for debate. In London the King-Emperor, George V, acting upon the advice of his ministers, had declared war, and as a loyal Dominion of the British Empire, New Zealand fell in behind the “Mother Country” without hesitation.

Chris Trotter: A Strange Hill To Die On.

Curia Research recently conducted a poll in the Napier electorate. Bad news for Stuart Nash, the Labour incumbent, whose chances of holding the seat are currently fluctuating between slim and none. Bad news, too, for the Labour Government as a whole, because the issue of most concern to local voters, by a Hawke’s Bay country-mile, is Three Waters. Around a third of the voters polled put the controversial water project at the top of their list of concerns. That’s nearly twice as many as the next most pressing concern for Napier voters – the parlous state of our health system.

One has to go back a long way to find a government so willing to press on with a policy so roundly rejected by the electorate. It is more than thirty years since Richard Prebble, confronted with the evidence that close to 90 percent of New Zealanders opposed the sale of Telecom, responded with the observation that Kiwis should be proud to have a government with the guts to face down such a powerful pressure-group!