David Farrar: More public homes, fewer waiting

Labour saw a massive blowout in those waiting for public housing from 2017 to 2022, and now it is down to 2020 levels. This is a good thing.

Geoff Parker: Claimants and Lawyers.......working for the Treaty Dollar

Waitangi Day, which is a public holiday in New Zealand to mark the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, has long been a day of activist Maori protest.

Hear what this song on Treaty Of Waitangi For Dummies has to say about the Treaty shenanigans......

Professor Jerry Coyne: New Zealand volcano deemed to have the status of personhood

New Zealand is the first country in the world to give natural geographic features the status of personhood, with all the rights of a human being. It was first done to Te Urewera, a remote area of the North Island, then to the North Island’s Whanganui River. Now CNN and BreakingViews (headlines below) report that personhood has been tranted to a third feature, the volcano Mount Taranaki, also on the North Island, and located here:

Guest Post: The Trump 2.0 investigations

Kiwi in America writes on Kiwiblog,

As monumental and consequential as Trump’s 2nd term policies and Cabinet picks are, and the scope and pace of the initial Executive Orders are a stark reminder of how much Trump wants to get done and how fast he wants to do it, under the radar somewhat will be a series of investigations that will shed light on many of the most egregious and even audacious acts of the Biden Presidency and of the conduct of the so-called ‘deep state’ and its supporters.

Rodney Hide: Helen Clark Declares Elon Musk a Nazi

I struggle to believe former Prime Minister Helen Clark thinks Elon Musk is a Nazi. That doesn’t stop her of accusing him of being one and of him advocating genocide.

Here’s her post on X on 26 January:

Dr Oliver Hartwich: New Zealand’s ‘No’ culture threatens growth agenda

“There’s always a reason to say no, but if we keep saying no, we’ll keep going nowhere.”

With these words in his ‘State of the Nation’ speech last week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon diagnosed a critical barrier to New Zealand’s economic growth: a culture of negativity and excessive caution.

Only a few days later, his government provided the perfect test case for Luxon’s diagnosis.

Dr Eric Crampton: When politicians campaign on competition, be very worried

It’s fair to say that economists like competition.

It’s also fair to say that, when politicians start talking about competition, economists ought to get a little bit nervous.

People can have very different understandings of the same word. For example, in a classic Simpsons episode, environmentalist Lisa Simpson convinced Mr Burns of the merits of recycling – and was later horrified to find that he built a machine to ‘recycle’ the ocean’s bounty into a multipurpose slurry.

 Saturday February 1, 2025 

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Roger Partridge: Supreme Court’s rush to judgment is a constitutional wake-up call

Has the Supreme Court once again stepped outside its lane? A recent ruling about who controls our coastlines suggests our highest court is trying to reshape laws made by Parliament, rather than just apply them.

Even more concerning is the Court’s extraordinary haste in delivering its judgment, just as Parliament prepared to debate changes to the law. This judicial activism should concern every New Zealander.

Sir Roger Douglas: New Zealand's Retirement Pension

Michael Littlewood’s ‘Guest Post’ for David Farrar on pensions, and his belief that our social welfare system is fit for purpose and doesn’t need change, reminded me of why New Zealand is currently well on the way to bankruptcy, and why our brightest young people are leaving the country in droves.

It all started in earnest when Sir Robert Muldoon and the National party in 1976, voted in one of the most generous retirement pension systems anywhere in the world, if not the most generous. They did so without voting in the taxes needed to pay for such a generous scheme.

Greg Clydesdale: Why is Tourism a Poison Chalice?

We now have our fifth Tourism Minister in as many years. Of course, one of those was due to a change of government but, nevertheless, this office is increasingly looking like a poison challis. This is remarkable given that tourism is not a politically contentious area. It should not be a hot-potato, in which case, we need to dig deeper to find the source of the problem.

Dr Ursula Edgington: Bullying in New Zealand: an Educationalist’s Perspective

In a Breaking Views article Jan 21^st 2025, “Bullying at New Zealand Universities?” David Lillis raises legitimate concerns about academia’s toxic workplace environment. 

In this short article, I argue that bullying isn’t unique to New Zealand, nor to our Higher Education sector. Furthermore, bullying is only a symptom; it’s the root cause of bullying that needs our urgent attention. I end with a practical suggestion for how each of us can help enact positive change.

Barrie Davis: The Maori Magna Carta

The claim of partnership in the Treaty of Waitangi as the basis of co-governance, sits at the centre of the debate on the Treaty Principles Bill. At face, a partnership for governing the country seems an unlikely possibility. The Treaty is an agreement between Queen Victoria and about five hundred Maori Chiefs regarding the sovereignty of New Zealand. Partnership is not specifically mentioned and given the far greater power and authority of Queen Victoria a hierarchical arrangement is far more plausible.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 26.1.25

Saturday February 1, 2025 

News:
Waitangi Day 2025: The conversations, commemorations and celebrations taking centre stage
Each year, thousands flock to the Northland town of Paihia to commemorate, remember, and celebrate the signing of the country's founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

To kick off the busy week, the National Iwi Chairs Forum will convene in the Far North on 3 February, ahead of Waitangi Day on 6 February, to set its goals for the year.

Dan Brunskill: Not in my (Mr Luxon's) backyard

The Prime Minister wants to 'end the culture of saying no' but won't say whether he now supports or still opposes construction in his own backyard

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon won’t say whether he's now throwing his support behind an economic development opportunity he has previously opposed in his home electorate, after asking New Zealanders to say yes to growth.

Chris Morrison: Sea Levels Could Rise Six Feet by 2100 Claims Daily Mail in Latest Pseudoscientific Fearmongering

Interest in pursuing the Net Zero fantasy is falling faster around the world than Dale Vince’s divorce-challenged bank account. Soon we might see an end to all the pseudoscientific fearmongering in mainstream media designed to promote the society-destroying campaign. Thankfully there is still some entertainment to be had, with Mail Online recently publishing an old favourite claiming that six-foot high sea level rises caused by “global warming” will submerge major cities such as London, Hull and Cardiff within 75 years.

Brendan O'Neill: It’s time we all stood up for the right to ridicule Islam

A man was executed for blasphemy in Europe yesterday. In the heart of the EU, which boasts to the world about its culture of tolerance, a man was shot in cold blood seemingly for the ‘crime’ of deriding the Koran. Anyone who doubts that Europe is in a dark place right now will surely have a rude awakening following this grim slaying of a man who some judged to be insufficiently godly.

Kerre Woodham: Why aren't all schools back yet?

It is the end of the month. There's only 12 of them in a year. Into the first month of the year and still there are schools that are not back yet. Could someone please explain to me how it is reasonable in this day and age to have such disparate and wide-ranging start dates for the school year?

I don't know about your particular school, or your area, but of the ones I know about, Auckland Grammar borders have been back for two weeks. That seems perfectly reasonable.

David Farrar: And she scores … an own goal!

The Herald reports:

Labour’s Jan Tinetti’s attempt to criticise the Government’s free school lunch programme has backfired after she laid into a burger made when her party was in power.

An online video, shared to Labour and Tinetti’s Instagram accounts, featured several pictures of school lunches that Tinetti labelled as “disgraceful”. The post has since been removed.

 Friday January 31, 2025 

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