Professor John Raine: It’s Election Year but Are They Listening?

Wobbly Democracy in the Western World

Danyl McLauchlan’s Listener article [1] on New Zealand’s voter tribes highlights the complexity the political parties face in harvesting votes, particularly from the “alienated conservatives” and “precarious left.”

The article also touches on something else - trust in government. Western democracy is not doing well - authoritarian behaviour from governments on issues where they do not have a mandate, and public service bureaucracies (not much of a stretch to say “deep state”) undermining elected governments. Governments also ignore information/advice that would steer them away from counterproductive policy.

Professor John Raine: Climate And Energy Policy Realism Not Virtue Signalling, Please

Saving the Planet with Formula 1 Design Regulations

The 2026 Formula 1 (F1) motor racing season gets under way in Melbourne 6 - 8 March. During pre-season testing in Barcelona and Bahrain, leading drivers such as Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso weren’t holding back with their criticism of the new FIA design regulations.

The sustainable non-fossil fuel is not really an issue, although “sustainable” needs close scrutiny as too often some environmental and emissions costs are externalised. The key change is that the FIA has specified an increase from 120kW to 350kW (close to 50%) electric power, and a reduction from ~550kW to ~400kW from the 1.6 litre turbocharged internal combustion engine. Notably, the battery energy storage capacity of 4 megajoules for 2026 remains unchanged, with this energy to be recovered twice over in braking each lap. Drivers now have become electrical energy managers rather than being 100% focused on driving flat out.

John Raine, Michael Kelly, Bryan Leyland & David Lillis: A Response to Dame Anne Salmond on Climate Change

Climate Change Alarmism Versus Moderation

Dame Anne Salmond (Newsroom, 11th September 2025) [1], argues that New Zealand must ignore the recommendations from David Seymour (Act) and Shane Jones (NZ First) that New Zealand should re-negotiate its commitments under the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. She draws attention to the risk to international trade agreements if New Zealand departs from existing obligations. However, Professor Salmond appears to be guided only by the mainstream politicised narrative on climate change.

John Raine: Let's have some realism about Mātauranga Maori

Traditional Knowledge in Education and Research

The role in the New Zealand education system of Māori traditional knowledge, encompassed in mātauranga Māori (MM), has triggered heated debate around the current Education and Training Act Amendment Bill (No.2) [1]. We are currently at risk of further enshrining in education policy Treaty of Waitangi obligations that have no place in a secular education system. Māori traditional knowledge has a rightful place but must not have a politically driven, sanctified position in school or university curricula.

Professor John Raine: Concerned Citizens, Not Haters and Liars

Public voices have been loud and but not entirely clear over particular sections in the Education and Training Act Amendment Bill (No.2). Apart from submissions to the Select Committee, Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, has received many personal messages.

The pressure on our Cabinet Ministers is understandable, but on Mike Hosking Breakfast 27th June, Erica Stanford referred to those who had sent her emails as, “whipped up with hatred, frothing at the mouth and spouting complete and utter garbage, lies” - extreme words that fell back on lazy social media slurs. Misinformed or intemperate remarks would have been a small proportion of the messages sent to the Minister. The large majority would have been stating real concerns that the Bill as it stands appears to leave the door open for undue Treaty dominance and continued decolonisation activism in our education system.

Professor John Raine: Ancestry-Defined Enthnostate or a Working Democracy

The Treaty of Waitangi should be a unifying document but instead it seems to consign New Zealand society to a future of categorisation and determination of rights by race. Look no further than countries such as Malaysia, India or Iran to see how damaging this is to societal harmony. Can we avoid a further drift towards becoming an ethnostate?

John Raine: Closing the Stable Door?

Do we want our children educated or indoctrinated? There has been widespread capture of universities in the Western world, not least in New Zealand, by identity politics and undermining of academic excellence by authoritarian diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agendas. There is now increasing public distrust in the culture of universities and the quality of the graduates that emerge from what were once highly respected institutions.

John Raine: Better Times 2027 – Vision or Hallucination?

Imagine for a few minutes that it is late 2027 and things have miraculously taken a turn for the better. Here goes…………

Economic and social progress was sufficient in its first term for the Christopher Luxon-led coalition government to be re-elected in 2026. The Act Party, still pressing for a nationwide constitutional discussion, secured 16% of the vote and were needed at the table, which with National’s 37%, and NZ First retained in the team at 7%, gave the Coalition a strong mandate. Labour suffered even more than expected at the polls through the extreme policy demands of its expected Green and Te Pati Māori partners around taxes, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agendas, and policies beneficial to Māori but not to other New Zealanders.

John Raine, David Lillis: InternetNZ and the Treaty

In Case You Were Wondering – InternetNZ and the Treaty

Treaty of Waitangi politics intrude ever more conspicuously into many areas of our society and our public life. Even New Zealand’s left-leaning mainstream media have picked up on the University of Auckland compulsory indoctrination-rich Waipapa Taumata Rau course [1], and Janet Dickson’s challenge to the Real Estate Authority [2] over their compulsion on estate agents to undertake a compulsory professional development module called Te Kākano (The Seed). Another example in tertiary education concerns efforts to decolonise the Massey University BA degree [3] This document supports the notion that society must remain “cognisant of structural ongoing contamination of white/Western hegemony.” It supports the idea that decolonisation does not exist without a framework that centres and privileges Indigenous life, community, and epistemology.

Professor John Raine: Unintended Consequences, or is this just City Council Greenwashing?

Few would argue against taking better care of the environment, becoming more efficient in our use of natural resources, avoiding wasteful consumerism, and recycling where it makes sense to do so.

Well, out walking recently I was keeping pace with an Auckland Council food scraps collection truck, which stopped at every fourth or fifth property, the driver climbed out and emptied the small bespoke, plastic, lidded food scraps bin, then accelerated away to then stop at the next bin. One would hope that most of the remaining 75-80% of the dwellings are composting at home – the optimal low environmental impact solution.

John Raine: Education, Research, and Lifting Productivity – a Heads-Up for Shane Reti

A New Minister

The New Zealand Herald 20^th January report on the Coalition Cabinet reshuffle focuses on Dr Shane Reti’s loss of the Health portfolio, and that he would become the new Universities Minister, while also picking up Statistics and Science, Innovation and Technology.  He will now have to follow through on the Government’s planned changes to the Education and Training Act 2020 [1] to strengthen academic freedom in the universities and, it would seem, on how science and technology research will be funded in the future – both relevant to the urgent need to increase New Zealand’s productivity.

These will be challenging tasks, given how the education and research sector has been significantly captured by identity politics and pockets of decolonisation/indigenisation activism. These have also led to censorship of academic publications and self-censorship by academics. This politicisation has aggravated operational inefficiencies in the sector. 

David Lillis and John Raine: New Zealand Science in 2025 and Beyond

Science for Public Good and Economic Benefit

This article focuses on the critical issues that must be addressed in order for research and development (R&D) to deliver positively for New Zealand’s people, environment and economy. These issues include the total investment in R&D, levels of funding for basic, applied and other forms of research, the intrusion of ideology within research, and the diminution of excellence as a condition of funding. In addition, they include the re-design of New Zealand’s funding instruments and the need to ensure excellent quality in all research, particularly in research that may influence policy.

John Raine: A Trump Card for Science?

Trump’s Election as a Reaction to Identity Politics

The weeks following Donald Trump’s election win have seen numerous mainstream and blog commentaries on the possible consequences of Donald Trump’s Presidential win. Existential despair from the left, and “Thank God we can now change direction” from the right. 

A common observation from conservative commentators is that voters reacted to the capture of the Democrats by critical social justice agendas and identity politics, and the Democrats’ failure to read the mood of the majority. We saw something similar with the demise of the Ardern-Hipkins government In New Zealand in October 2023.

John Raine: Why Engineering Cannot be Decolonised

Concordia University is Decolonising

Early 2024, Lawrence Krauss reported [1] that Concordia University in Canada is in the process of decolonising and indigenising its curricula, including Engineering. He noted that this will put Concordia on the Map, but not in a positive way.

John Raine and David Lillis: Can a Te Tiriti-Led University be Politically Neutral?

Critical Social Justice Ideology in Universities of the Western World

In “The Treason of the Intellectuals” [1], Sir Niall Ferguson describes parallels between a new politicisation of universities throughout the Western World and that which occurred in the German Weimar Republic in the 1920’s, resulting in German universities such as Heidelberg and Tubingen losing their top international standings.

John Raine: Universities not Wānanga - Time for the Government to Step Up

Distinction between a University and a Culturally Based Education Institution

New Zealand universities have been undergoing a cultural reshaping, and Government intervention is needed if we are to avoid adverse societal and financial consequences. Earlier articles by Raine, Lillis and Schwerdtfeger [e.g. 1, 2] have already covered this issue in some detail.

New Zealand has three wānanga as publicly owned tertiary education institutions, providing tertiary education in a Māori cultural context, and creating these institutions was positive for young Māori. They are: Te Wānanga o Raukawa (1981), Te Wānanga o Aotearoa (1984), and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiarangi (1991).  Why then, should our universities appear to be on a determined march towards indigenisation that will leave them looking like wānanga and no longer recognisable as universities in the internationally understood sense?

Professor John Raine: Ideological Illogic - Facts Not Feels, Please

At a time when universities (notably Massey University [1] and the University of Auckland) are engaged in curriculum transformation projects, we need to look hard at the current rationales for cutting courses. Sure, university courses tend to proliferate over time, and the universities have experienced heavy financial pressures following the Covid lockdowns and the loss of international student business, but we have also witnessed a blow-out in administrative and managerial staff numbers. Currently, a further factor is present, a shifting culture in the sector, that is affecting decisions around what university degree programmes are to look like in the future.

David Lillis, John Raine, Peter Schwerdtfeger, Rex Ahdar, Cathy Downes: Open Letter to the Coalition Government

Restoring the Standing and Reputation of Science in New Zealand - Open Letter to the Coalition Government

The recent news that GeoNet has been merging science with the myth, mysticism and legend of Māori traditional knowledge in their 2024 Geohazard Information has provoked a scathing response from international commentator, Professor Jerry Coyne (University of Chicago). This follows close behind publicity around the public funding of research projects that involve mixing of traditional knowledge and modern science which invited the inference that New Zealand had given equivalence to traditional knowledge and modern science.

John Raine and David Lillis: Giselle Byrnes’ Opinion Piece, “Why Te Tiriti and not Gaza?” – a Counter View

Why Te Tiriti and not Gaza?

In an opinion piece, published in Massey News of 12th July 2024, Professor Giselle Byrnes, Provost of Massey University, emphasises the importance of universities remaining neutral on political matters and, appropriately in our view, not taking a partisan stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Professor Byrnes points out correctly that to take a political position would place the University at odds with the Education and Training Act 2020. She quotes the 1967 Chicago University Kalven Report, as we have done in previous pieces; for example, Reference 1.

John Raine: Cultural High Noon in our Universities

Politicisation of our Universities

About a year ago, I first wrote with co-authors on this platform about the cultural shift and de facto politicisation of our universities [1]. By now I thought we might have seen a steadying of the ship and a true course set once again. The current reality is very worrying.

Throughout the Western world the infusion into universities of critical social justice (CSJ) theory and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) politics - now, ironically, exclusionary, racist and intolerant - is producing a generation of graduates steeped in postmodern relativist (frequently anti-science) thinking, embracing identity politics and the victim-oppressor mindset. It has caused division in our country rather than encouraging much-needed unity.