Ryan Bridge: We need less fighting, more long term thinking in Wellington

There's no reason parties on left and right in New Zealand politics can't work together to get stuff done.

This week we've seen it with the India FTA. It's essentially just deal-making.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Politics will be a little less fun without Ju‑Co in it

Right, so the biggest political news of the day is that Judith Collins has announced she’s retiring from politics to take up a new job as the head of the Law Commission mid‑year.

I, for one, am going to miss Judith Collins being in politics, because she has that thing very few politicians have.

Clive Bibby: Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic

Hopefully readers will forgive me for using this oft regurgitated analogy of people still committed to a doomed exercise. I mean no disrespect to those who died in that tragic accident.

However my use is more in reference to modern day New Zealand political parties who are in danger of becoming irrelevant in the minds of those who are finding things difficult just trying to feed, house, clothe and educate their families. Ironically, it has little to do with loyalty to outmoded doctrines or philosophies of yesteryear.

Ryan Bridge: We've been reminded our present day politicians aren't up to much

It's hard listening to all the tributes for Jim Bolger and not feeling like we're being short-changed by our current crop of leaders.

A few short generations ago, this country was a different place.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Are we surprised by these allegations we've heard about the Māori Party?

Listen, go on and tell me that any of the allegations that we've heard about the Māori Party in the last 36 hours surprise you.

Does it shock you in any way to find out that one of their MPs allegedly paid her son $120,000 of taxpayer money, that she couldn't apparently balance her own budget? And that her son allegedly abused parliamentary staff so badly that he was trespassed from the grounds?

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Rawiri Waititi's entitled to answer questions in Māori if he wants to

So, Shanan Halbert from the Māori Party doesn't like the fact that Rawiri Waititi answered all his media questions about Takuta Ferris in te reo Māori.

Now, if you haven't caught up on this, this is what happened yesterday when the Māori Party came face to face with the press gallery. It was the first time since Tākuta Ferris has doubled down and then tripled down for his anti-immigrant comments and then ignored his leader's orders to delete the video.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Why has Parliament become such a circus?

I can't blame you if your assessment of Parliament today is that it's become a circus, because what happened today is kind of hard to defend or even explain.

Chlöe was kicked out, Brownlee suspended her for a week and all of the Government parties voted for that punishment - and that includes New Zealand First, before Winston Peters then got up to tell Jerry Brownlee that the punishment wasn't fair, even though he just voted for the punishment.

Peter Hemmingson: Sanctioning Te Pati Māori

The ongoing disrespect for our Parliament shown by Te Pati Māori puts the finger squarely on the underlying issue: whether New Zealand will be governed by democratic norms or tribal grievance politics enforced through cultural intimidation.

We’re watching tikanga being expressed not as custom or courtesy, but as confrontation, posturing, aggression, bullying, and thinly veiled threats of violence.

Matt Walsh: How New Zealand’s parliament became a viral laughingstock

Parliament in New Zealand descended into tribal, Stone Age grunting on behalf of so-called indigenous rights. This is a preview of what our country (America) could look like if we keep apologizing for our history.

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Geoffrey Miller: What to expect from Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the New Zealand Parliament

As New Zealand’s foreign policy year draws to a close, it seems fitting that Volodymyr Zelensky will have the final word.

Ukraine’s President is scheduled to address the New Zealand Parliament in Wellington by video link early on Wednesday morning, local time.

New Zealand is something of a latecomer when it comes to inviting Zelensky to speak to its legislature in 2022.