David Harvey: Unawareness, Blind Ignorance and a Sense of Unreality

The Green Party Proposals for Electrification as an Answer to the Fuel Crisis

Mainstream Media reports that the Green Party will campaign on mass electrification for the election, saying the sun, wind, water and geothermal energy “don’t come through the Strait of Hormuz”.

Chloe Swarbrick with that wild-eyed enthusiasm that only she is capable of offers a simplistic solution. I use the word “simplistic” advisedly. She herself says the solution is simple.

She says:

John MacDonald: The Greens' solar plan doesn't stack up

The Green Party wants us to electrify everything, saying the current fuel crisis is a good reason to produce as much of our own energy as possible.

Which, by the way, is kind of ironic don’t you think? The Greens wanting us to produce our own energy, but not wanting us to drill for oil and gas?

Nevertheless, that’s what co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said in the party’s State of the Planet speech yesterday.

Kerre Woodham: 'They're must-haves - The Greens' fuel relief package should be seriously considered

In today's edition of Fuel Watch, the Green Party is offering its votes to the National Party to get on with passing what the Greens call a sensible and urgent fossil fuel crisis relief package.

And you know what, it is quite sensible.

Melanie Phillips: Chickens coming home to roost

The Greens' by-election victory signifies a cultural and political emergency for Britain

Britain has woken up to a victory by the Greens in the Gorton and Denton by-election. The Greens’ Hannah Spencer, a 34 year-old plumber, now becomes the Member of Parliament for the constituency which has been Labour since 1931. Labour was pushed into third place with Reform coming second.

Pee Kay: English Language Bill is “bullsh*t”

So says Chloe!

The government has introduced a bill to make English an official language, to ridicule from the opposition, and a fierce defence from Winston Peters.

The legislation would see English be recognised as an official language alongside Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language.

Just two pages long, the legislation states that English has long been a de facto official language, but not set out in legislation.

Dr Bryce Edwards: The Quiet War at Waitangi 2026

Many expected fireworks at Waitangi this year. In an election year, with the Government’s record on Treaty issues still fresh and raw, the annual commemorations looked set to be a battleground. Instead, the week turned out to be remarkably calm on the surface. And deeply fractured underneath.

The real story of Waitangi 2026 wasn’t about Māori versus the Crown. It was about Māori versus Māori, and an opposition that seems incapable of getting its act together nine months out from polling day.

Matua Kahurangi: When the Greens refuse to name the problem

The other day I wrote about the stripping of our rockpools around Whangaparāoa. Buckets emptied. Rockpools cleaned out. Coastal ecosystems smashed for quick gain. Once again, the Greens had nothing meaningful to say.

Now they have suddenly found their voice. Not to condemn the behaviour. Not to demand tougher enforcement. Not to stand up for the marine environment they claim to worship. Instead, they are insisting that immigration be left out of the debate entirely.

That position is not just dishonest. It is cowardly.

JD: The Bell Tolls for NZ Investment

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

The Chloe clanger.

Probably one of the most damaging statements ever made by a
politician fell out of the mouth of Chloë Swarbrick recently in the Herald
Now channel. Paraphrasing, she said that because the Fast Track
legislation was “illegitimate”, the Greens, when in the next government,
will cancel all the mining consents issued under this law.

David Farrar: A very smart move by the Greens

Radio NZ reports:

Former Green MP Kevin Hague is returning to politics to be the party’s new chief of staff.

In a social media post on Thursday, Hague said he was coming “out of retirement” to take up the role after Eliza Prestidge-Oldfield stepped down.

Peter Dunne: Chippy's dilemma

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has had a noticeable spring in his step in recent days, living up to his nickname “Chippy.”

After nearly two years’ dormancy, Labour made two significant policy announcements this week. On Monday Hipkins and finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds announced Labour’s plan to establish a Future Fund to both protect state assets from future sale and establish a sounder basis for funding long-term infrastructure development. Although derisively short on detail, and therefore attracting predictable political ridicule from opponents, the policy was reasonably well-received elsewhere, suggesting a flicker of life is returning to the Labour beast.

Dr Michael Bassett: Duplicity in the modern world

We have entered a new world where few things are on the level. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Dictatorland. Vladimir Putin’s forces brazenly invaded Ukraine in 2022, breaking a vital stipulation in the United Nations Charter to which Russia signed up at the end of World War Two. It specifies that no sovereign state shall invade another. In 2022 Putin knew that Russia’s veto at the UN would prevent any united action against Russia so long as his delegates weren’t temporarily absent from the Security Council, as they had been in 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea, thus triggering the Korean War.

Chris Lynch: The Greens have crossed a line they cannot take back

The activist class in New Zealand has perfected the art of playing the victim.

Every time they are challenged, they cry persecution.

Every time they are criticised, they claim oppression.

Kerre Woodham: You need to know how to play the system to enact change

I've always thought that if you want to change the system, if you feel that the system, whatever it might be, doesn't work for you, the best way is to change it from within. When you live in a democracy, that is one of the beauties of a democracy. You don't have to riot in the streets, you don't have to depose tyrannical dictators, you can use the ballot box to effect change.

You can also enter the system and change it from within. But only if you take the time to learn how the system works, and only if you're prepared to settle for incremental change rather than spectacular seismic show-stopping change.

David Farrar: Greens say taxing supermarkets more will lower food prices!

Radio NZ reports:

But the Greens’ commerce and consumer affairs spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March told RNZ that was only “one part of the puzzle” and the government needed to explore all its options – including breaking up the supermarket duopoly.

David Farrar: The gift of the Greens

Roger Partridge writes:

The Greens’ coronation of Chlöe Swarbrick at last weekend’s AGM delivered a manifesto for economic transformation that would make Soviet economists nostalgic for their glory days.

Swarbrick delivered a speech that was part meditation retreat, part political rally. She declared her party “leading the Opposition,” positioned herself as Finance Minister-in-waiting, and announced her intention to overhaul capitalism.

Ani O'Brien: Who is willing to sacrifice the poor at the Green Altar?

Why we must stand up to anti-human activists.

We need to stand up to the anti-human activists who treat ordinary people as collateral damage in their crusade. Their vision of “climate justice” is really just human misery dressed up as virtue. Every time New Zealanders open a power bill, they’re reminded that the real “crisis” is one of affordability. We are told that sacrificing more, paying more, and living with less will somehow save the planet. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: shaving a fraction of a fraction off global carbon emissions by punishing Kiwis, especially our poorest, is not going to move the needle.

Kerre Woodham: Will we soon see the Greens leading the government?

I asked on Friday how anyone could vote for Labour given the latest Treasury report into their irresponsible spending of taxpayer money that came out last week. That irresponsible spending that contributed greatly to the recession, the high mortgage interest rates to unemployment - when so many of the same people, those people who made so many stupid decisions are still there, how could anyone, I asked, think that Labour should get another crack at government?

Damien Grant: The negative effects of taxing wealth

When I first arrived in Auckland, nearly four decades ago, my first job was working at the Central Post Office sorting, shifting and, on occasion, diverting mail. Behind the Post Office was a tawdry collection of buildings, housing a bus depot, run down colonial-era shacks selling cigarettes and chocolate bars and a few grunge dives where the has-beens of today strutted their stuff.

Matua Kahurangi: Greens cry foul over parody billboards

The Green Party, architects of the Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill, have found themselves in the unusual and frankly ironic position of complaining about being parodied.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has partly upheld eight complaints about six parody billboards lampooning Green MPs Tamatha Paul and Chlöe Swarbrick. The billboards, funded by the Sensible Sentencing Trust, featured slogans such as “Defund the Police” and the more pointed “Woop Woop! Defund da Police”, the latter a cheeky nod to Paul’s on-stage DJ performance earlier this year where she played Sound of da Police by rapper KRS-One.

Kerre Woodham: Are the Greens bonkers?

Are the Greens bonkers? The Greens have come out and criticised Judith Collins for tinkering with the Public Service Commission census – that's a voluntary survey run over three weeks and it's a follow up to the initial 2021 survey of the same name. Now Judith Collins and her office had a look at the 2021 survey, and they suggested a few changes. They had thoughts about the census, and they said we don't really need the questions about disability, rainbow identities, religion, te reo Māori proficiency levels, on-the-job training, and agencies’ commitment to the Māori-Crown relationship.