Rodney Hide: Karl Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance

In “The Open Society and Its Enemies” (written during the Second World War, in New Zealand), Karl Popper identified a structural problem for liberal societies. Unlimited tolerance, he argued, is self-defeating. If a tolerant society extends unlimited tolerance even to those who are themselves intolerant — and who would, if they gained power, abolish the tolerant order — then the tolerant will eventually be destroyed, and tolerance with them.

Pee Kay: Social and Economic Survival or Managed Social and Economic Decline?

The 2026 election not as a choice between left and right, it is not a choice about who you have traditionally voted for and it is definitely not a choice of voting for who your parents and grandparents voted for.

This November it is actually a choice between social and economic survival, or managed social and economic decline!

Pee Kay: National… the Enemy Within? (Part Three)

PART THREE: The Luxon Years, The Future, the Battle for New Zealand’s Democracy

On reflection, what made us think Christopher Luxon would be any different from the long line of previous National Prime Ministers who simply failed to hold our democracy dear?

The answer is simple, desperation.

Following six horrific years of the Ardern/Hipkins Labour governments, we were desperate for change. When Luxon looked us in the eye and stated, “We are one country, we deliver our public services to people on the basis of need, not ethnicity,” and “We are all equal under the law,” we believed him!

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government needs to prove what it said about co-governance wasn't just hot air

If anyone on a council at the moment can't understand why so many of us ratepayers are so hostile towards them, sometimes bordering on hatred, can I just suggest they take a look at what's going on with these agreements with iwi? That might actually give them a bit of an idea.

If you haven't followed this, Chris Bishop is planning to replace the Resource Management Act shortly and his replacement law will not allow councils to sign any more of these agreements.

Pee Kay: National… the Enemy Within?

PART ONE: The Bolger/Shipley years

Labour may talk co-governance, but it’s actually National who cements it!

It’s bizarre isn’t it, Labour often absorbs the loudest and most heated public condemnation for its Maori centred policies. For decades, political commentators have labelled Labour as the champion of Maori rights and National as its staunch opponent.

But is that, in fact, true?

The Leighton Smith Podcast: Dr Muriel Newman on this year's hugely consequential general election

Leighton Smith and Dr Muriel Newman discuss the ongoing constitutional shift toward iwi influence, co-governance and race-based policies. In this election year, New Zealand is arguably facing its biggest challenge to date.

Click to listen - Audio

Graeme Reeves: The Constitutional Revolution New Zealand Pretends Is Not Happening

There are moments in a nation’s history when power shifts so gradually, so quietly, and so bureaucratically that the public fails to recognise the transformation until the new order is already entrenched. New Zealand may now be living through precisely such a moment.

The Tiaki Wai agreement is not merely a water governance document. It is a warning flare. A glimpse into a constitutional future being constructed incrementally, contractually, and largely beyond the direct awareness or explicit consent of the wider electorate.

Guest Post: Notice To The New Zealand First Parliamentary Caucus

Guest Post by Ivan Barnett on New Minister

Ref: Immediate Legislative Action Required to Halt Ongoing Iwi Entrenchment in Local Government

To the Members of the New Zealand First Caucus,

This notice is issued to express the deep concern of New Zealanders who have watched the steady erosion of democratic authority through the appointment of unelected iwi representatives to council committees with full voting rights. The Government’s recent announcement claiming to “restore democratic accountability” is not action. It is not reform. It is not protection of the principle of one person, one vote. It is a political cover‑up for continued inaction.

Pee Kay: A PYRHIC VICTORY?

I’m presuming many readers will have received e-mails from political party’s and political ginger groups announcing their roles in yesterdays announcement that the government will change the law so only elected councillors can vote on council committees.

And we all say well done to them all for the parts they played in getting the government to move on this issue where democracy was being pushed aside and political strength and power would be determined by your ancestry! The cornerstone of democracy, one person, one vote will be preserved!

Gary Judd KC: Inclusion of UNDRIP in India FreeTrade Agreement

Oral submissions to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee

This morning I made oral submissions. I had 5 minutes to support my own submission (Part 1). I received instructions from Hobsons Pledge and had 10 minutes to present on its behalf (Part 2). Below are the notes I used. There were no questions after Part 1, but there were questions after Part 2 from the chairman National MP Tim van de Molen, and from ACT MP Laura McClure.

Guest Post: The Greatest Scam in The History of NZ

Guest Post by Bill Chambers on No Minister

There are hundreds of preferential “provisions” along with 96 Acts of Parliament favouring Maori over all other New Zealanders. So, you must surely be asking yourself how fair is that … and WHY would such a blatant apartheid regime have ever been allowed to come about.

Well, this country has been taken down by the biggest fraudulent scam ever known. Due entirely to the fact that Activists are inherently greedy.

Graham Carter: Councils are Ceding Sovereignty to Iwi – This is Treason

There is a major power shift happening under our noses, as power moves from elected representatives to unelected and unaccountable iwi and hapū appointees.

We have been warned for some time now that Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements (MWRs) are undermining local democracy and would be sped up by captured councils and local iwi before the government passes its Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms.

Elliot Ikilei: Forget co-governance, this is straight up treason

There is a major shift happening under our noses, as power moves from elected representatives to unelected and unaccountable iwi and hapū appointees.

Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements (MWRs) are undermining local democracy and will be sped up by captured councils and local iwi before the government passes its Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms.

As I write, the Far North District Council is rushing through more MWRs with multiple iwi (and even hapū). They are giving this work priority and seeking to avoid public consultation. They are negotiating with five iwi and one hapū. The RMA specifically talks about iwi authorities; it doesn’t mention hapū.

Pee Kay: “…equal treatment is deemed discrimination”

2026 finds New Zealand standing at a critical political and social intersection.

The path a future New Zealand takes, will in some part, likely be decided at the ballot box on November 7th and will most probably be central to heated and continued constitutional discussion and argument into the late 2020s!

With a population of 5.3 million New Zealand is wrestling with a fragile economy and a constitutional and an identity crisis. If our country is to ever secure a prosperous future, surely it is now time to turn away from the politically imposed obstructions of co-governance, partnership and the movement towards Maori sovereignty.

Geoff Parker: A Storm Is Not An Act Of Colonisation.

The report makes a legitimate point that some Māori communities are vulnerable to severe weather events, especially isolated rural or coastal settlements. But it weakens its own credibility by turning climate resilience into a broad ideological argument about colonisation and governance.

Climate risk is primarily driven by geography, infrastructure quality, income, and preparedness — not ancestry.

Olivia Pierson: The Renewal of the West and a Reckoning for New Zealand

We in the West are not merely stumbling through the malady of culture wars. We are decaying in our very core. We have ceased to bring forth children in numbers required for our future, shattering the bonds of strong family - especially after Covid insanity saw family members pitted against each other - and we’ve saddled our young with mountains of debt along with a gnawing sense of futility, offering them neither purpose nor the prospect of showing them how to build lives worth inheriting.

Dr Don Brash: Instead of fixing the RMA, Govt is perfecting the machinery of division

The following is written in Don's capacity as Hobson's Pledge Trustee.

A few weeks ago, Hobson’s Pledge sent the Government an Official Information Act (OIA) request concerning the Gore District Plan and its requirement that farmers and those using the land must assess their use against Ngāi Tahu's cultural values, such as mauri, wairua, whakapapa, and utu.

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.

Pee Kay: A Democratic Defikcit

It was like a cancer, disguised, undisclosed and incrementally it grew. Insidious in its reach we now witness the infection of people in places of authority.

It was, the proponents say, the misunderstood political hot potato in the 2023 general election and it played a significant role in the election of our current coalition.

As we headed towards the 2023 General Election, one topic that dominated debates and the airwaves alike was co-governance. A term of many layers but of real potency, co-governance is a descriptor frequently distorted and misrepresented when used to drive agendas across the political spectrum.

Duncan Garner: The Panel - More Pressure on Luxon, As Winston Continues to Rise

Christopher Luxon, National Party leadership, Winston Peters, polling trends, co-governance and tax reform all come under the microscope on today’s Editor in Chief panel. 

Joined by Maurice Williamson and Ashley Church, we unpack whether Luxon can survive mounting pressure as another poor poll is released. 

Is there actually a viable alternative, or is National stuck with the leader it has? We also explore why polls drive political decision-making more than anyone admits, and how Winston Peters’ rise could reshape the election. 

There’s also a deep dive into co-governance, including unelected representation in council decision-making, and why this issue is firing up voters.

Click to view