Bob Edlin: Luxon keeps hooting (to the point of tedium) about no new taxes...

....but he dropped the ball when asked about Treaty policy

If you haven’t got the message, the Nats are counting on remaining in government by pledging not to introduce new taxes while portraying left-leaning parties as ravenous revenue grabbers.

The Nats might have other policies. But in the past week their campaign pitch has emphasised what they oppose – more taxes – rather than what they support.

Geoff Parker: Carwyn Jones misses the point - David Seymour is right

Who Makes New Zealand’s Laws — Parliament Or The Courts?

Carwyn Jones says ACT's new “One Law for All. One Future Together” policy appears to be an attempt to “re-litigate” the failed Treaty Principles Bill.

But that criticism misses the central point of David Seymour's proposal.

Dominic O'Sullivan: The Opportunity Party’s Treaty policy is closer to Labour than National. But is it a bottom line?

During the current parliamentary term, the debate over te Tiriti o Waitangi’s place in public life is arguably more polarised than at any time in the past 50 years.

But the parliamentary split on the issue could shift if the Opportunity Party becomes a player in forming the next government.

JC: A Lesson Luxon Has To Learn

Christopher Luxon is not your consummate politician. Not by a long shot. And politics is nothing like running a business. The National Party, or indeed the coalition, is not Unilever. The MPs representing ACT and NZ First are not Luxon’s staff. They are more like suppliers adding products (ideas) to help sustain his business (government) and keep it profitable (in power). Unlike business, which vies with competitors for market share, in politics it can be an accommodation with competitors (ACT and NZ First) that attains and keeps the market share (percentage of votes). Luxon has failed to discern the difference.

Peter Williams: The Sad Stobo Saga

How the wokerati got to a white male

In April 2024 the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) launched its Matangirua strategy – its formal Māori engagement and capability framework. The strategy was designed to help Māori “participate as Māori” in financial markets. That apparently means “not just as generic consumers or investors, but in ways that recognise Māori economic structures, values, and collective ownership models.”

All up that sounds like a separatist model. Are Maori , or those who call themselves Maori, really that different from the rest of us?

Graham Adams: Media talks up Winston Peters’ rise

The path to election glory has traps.

NZ First’s prospects at the election after a run of good polling are being talked up by increasingly enthusiastic commentators. But if a week is a long time in politics, more than six months is an eternity. And there are traps aplenty for the party to navigate before November 7.

Listening to the media, however, you might think the continuing rise of Winston Peters and NZ First is unstoppable.

Graham Adams: Luxon Finds Merit In Treaty Principles After All

Ever since David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill was defeated in Parliament last April he has promised his campaign for “equal rights for all citizens” would be back on the political agenda for this year’s election.

He is certainly doggedly keeping the memory of the bill alive. He mentioned it in his State of the Nation speech on February 15; in his address at Waitangi on February 5; and on the same day in a column in Wellington’s The Post, in which he restated the proposed articles with a reminder that each had received significantly more support than opposition in polls at the time.

Mike Butler: Waitangi heckles and what’s ahead

The squabbles and heckles at Waitangi on Thursday and Friday can be rooted to fear of losing preferential treatment, according to my chosen research assistant. However, there is a qualifier.

Maori reactions were framed in terms of losing what they say is treaty guaranteed status, tino rangatiratanga (chiefly authority), and partnership obligations.

JC: Basking in the Sun and Howling at the Moon

There are two sides to the current prime minister. There’s the Christopher Luxon at home and the Christopher Luxon abroad and they are two different persona. The overseas version is a relaxed figure in complete control, in his element if you like. His trips abroad are successful ventures and he impresses other people of note with whom he has dialogue. He is representing New Zealand well on the world stage. It is his moment in the sun. He exudes a sunny temperament basking in the importance of it all.

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 Bell: New Zealand’s Constitutional Crisis - Where to for Treaty Principles?

With the recent defeat of the Treaty Principles Bill, New Zaland faces a constitutional crisis. With the exception of the ACT Party’s MPs, every Member of the House voted to reject both the principle that our democratically elected Parliament is sovereign and the principle that all New Zealand citizens have the same equal status before the law. Worse, the Prime Minister has specifically stated that there was nothing in the Bill that he supported.

John McLean: Honesty

One distinct oddity in our strange world is that the darkest actors are often the more honest.

So when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced (late in 2021) his intention for Russia to invade Ukraine, outsiders should have taken him at his word. And when Chlöe Swarbrick chants “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”, we should harbor no doubt that Chlöe sincerely wants to see an end to the State of Israel.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Luxon's visits and the TPB

Having Walked Out of NZ at its Most Crucial Time when the Treaty Principles Bill was debated, PM Luxon visits the Vatican Palace, Buckingham Palace, and Sultan's Palaces in Istanbul

The Kiwi Prime Minister says he wants NZ's economy to grow. It got ranked near bottom of the world this week by the IMF in terms of real GDP growth. On the back of the uncertainty due to tariffs that is shaving around 0.5% off most country's project economic growth rates, the National Party may be the first in NZ history to preside over an economy that is mired in stagnation during its entire three year term of office.

Steven Mark Gaskell: Time for clarity - Why the Treaty Principles Bill matters

The growing complexity around Treaty of Waitangi obligations demands urgent attention. That’s why the treaty principles bill is not just timely — it’s essential.

 A recent review, supported by post-settlement iwi like Ngāti Toa rangatira, highlights the problem clearly: There is poor planning, vague leadership, and expanding risk when it comes to how the crown engages with iwi. Most telling is the concern raised by Ngāti Toa themselves — questioning the crown’s accountability in these arrangements.

Centrist: Treaty Principles Bill dropped, but broader reform agenda gains momentum

With the Treaty Principles Bill voted down in Parliament last week, the coalition government is now moving ahead with a broader programme to review how Treaty clauses are used across dozens of existing laws.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith confirmed that officials have completed policy work reviewing Treaty-related provisions in 28 laws.

Mike Butler: State racism, dysfunction exposed

ACT leader David Seymour has done New Zealand a huge favour through his Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill – he has exposed the racial divide that has been created by successive governments.

The debate and referendum that Seymour courageously pushed for should have taken place decades ago, before former Justice Minister Geoffrey Palmer launched the treaty settlement never-ending story that has apparently not settled anything.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: The PM Abrogates Leadership of NZ.........

The PM Abrogates Leadership of NZ: Today he hid from Parliament whilst the Most Vital (Treaty) Issue Affecting our Economic Future was Debated.

This comment is far more about economics than politics. Today ACT's Treaty Principle's Bill was debated in Parliament and the Prime Minister didn't turn up. Why? He doesn't want anything to do with it. He just wants to talk about the economy. He wants you and me to talk about the economy. Well, here's a message from an economist, not a politician.

Yvonne Van Dongen: What Should We Be Talking About - And Aren't?

A topic even more inflammatory than gender.

The latest report from the Integrity Institute on the 2025 Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer made me think of the final question that Triggernometry podcast hosts Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster always ask their guests: what should we be talking about that we aren’t talking about?

The Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual global survey of confidence in institutions. New Zealand’s 2025 results are not good. Trust in government is down to 45 per cent. Business sits at 54 per cent. And trust in the media has fallen to 35 per cent.

Graham Adams: Seymour unbowed by hostile Treaty bill submissions

Anyone who watched David Seymour doggedly champion the End of Life Choice Bill for five years before its ultimate success in a referendum will know his sanguine view of the tsunami of submissions against his Treaty Principles Bill is not mere posturing.

When he told journalists on Friday that the select committee report showing 90 per cent of submitters were opposed had “redoubled” his commitment to ensuring all New Zealanders were equal, with universal rights before the law, he made it clear Act will take that proposition to next year’s election as a policy plank.

David Seymour systematically DISMANTLES arguments against the Treaty Principles Bill

David Seymour hosts a press conference in response to the release of the Justice Select Committee’s report on the Treaty Principles Bill.

Click to view