Lindsay Mitchell: Proof that National is Labour-lite

National governments are better economic managers BUT avoid the entrenched age-old problems that hold NZ back.

Welfare for sole mothers is one such problem.

In the six years between 2017 and 2023 there were five things Labour changed under PM Ardern and MSD Minister Sepuloni:

Mike's Minute: Orr has shown his lack of professionalism

Michael Reddell, who appears on this show a fair bit, has put the Adrian Orr resignation back in the news.

He has a source close to the action that, in simple terms, suggests that Orr packed a sad at a couple of meetings, one of which was with Nicola Willis, the chair of the Reserve Bank Neil Quigley wrote to Orr with a list of concerns over that behaviour, and Orr quit.

The underlying issue appears to be the fact the Government were determined to cut the Reserve Bank's budget, which ultimately, they were successful in doing.

Why?

Saturday July 26, 2025 

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Perce Harpham: Renewing New Zealand - Part 1

In this, Part 1, I will explore some of the issues which have determined our present situation. I will show some of the extent to which the power of the block of Maori seats in Parliament has threatened our democracy - bringing legal rights and tax exemptions for Maori at the cost of ratepayers and, heavily, taxpayers.The Treaty Principles Bill was a brave attempt to have the Waitangi Treaty simply mean what it says. Now that the Select Committee has slapped it down, do we simply accept all the fabrications that have been built around the Treaty or do we do something different?

Zoran Rakovic - The New Political Prison: How Selwyn Council Taught Me to Love the Cage

Denied speaking time by Selwyn Council, I explore how silence by power becomes a badge of honour and a symbol of modern civic resistance.

There is something strangely beautiful in being silenced by power. A grotesque beauty, yes, but beauty nonetheless—the same kind Kafka might have sketched in the margins of The Trial, where Josef K. is devoured not by violence, but by procedure. I was denied a right to speak at the Selwyn District Council meeting. Just a few minutes. Just one voice. Just one democratic forum. But the Chair—backed by the invisible hand of the Chief Executive—said no. The gate was shut, the forum full. Time had “run out.” That’s what they said. But let’s not be fooled. This was not about time. This was about power. And in that moment, I became, willingly or not, a political prisoner of the 21st century.

Francis Menton: New Record Set For Deaths From Climate And Weather Disasters

During the first half of 2025, a new record was set for the number of deaths caused by climate and weather disasters. Can you guess what that record was?

If you read left-wing media sources, and believe anything they say, you might think that the recent record has something to do with a large and growing number of deaths. Recent articles in sources like CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and CBS News all explicitly claim that climate change is making weather events “deadlier,” or leading to increasing numbers of deaths, or some variation of that same message. I’m sure if you checked thirty such “mainstream” news sources over the past year, all thirty of them would have pieces parroting that same narrative.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We need to talk about Gaza.

First up, we need to talk about Gaza.

I'm not gonna be graphic, and, and I'm not gonna talk about what it is hap what's happening there in detail. You already know, you can choose to read about it yourself, and I recommend that you do just to the point that you can kind of handle it.

Credit, today, to Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 20.7.25

Saturday July 26, 2025 

News:
Tāmaki Makaurau mana whenua butt heads over consultation process
Te Wānanga o Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau is under scrutiny following an Environment Court decision over who holds mana whenua status in parts of Tāmaki Makaurau. The question is, who gets to decide who is mana whenua in the region - iwi or Council?

Ian Wishart: Major NIWA climate change study gets shredded in OpenAI’s ChatGPT peer-review

Media runs with bad data, again

On 2 July, the NZ Herald republished an opinion piece by Auckland University’s Dr Tim Welch, which, among other things, stated:

“It’s getting hotter. Niwa data shows New Zealand is already experiencing extreme temperatures five times more frequently than historical baselines. Wellington hit 30.3°C and Hamilton 32.9°C in January, both all-time records. Marine heatwaves are persisting around South Island coasts months longer than usual.”

Matua Kahurangi: Another step towards digital authoritarianism

Even Te Pāti Māori got this one partly right.

For possibly the first time in my life, I found myself agreeing, at least in part, with Te Pāti Māori. During yesterday’s debate in Parliament on the Budapest Convention and Related Matters Legislation Amendment Bill, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi made a few points that were, surprisingly, worth listening to.

Ani O'Brien: NZ Govt instructs Sport NZ to ditch trans guidelines for community sport

What does this mean for women and for trans people?

This morning CEO of Sport New Zealand Raelene Castle released a statement that read like it had been issued with a gun to her head. In the restrained and deliberate language it is apparent rage simmers under the surface. The long battle the Crown agency has waged on this issue is all the more incredible considering that what the New Zealand Government has done is something that should be so unremarkable, so common sense.

Peter Williams: The Great Aotearoa Debate

How did that word get to be on our passports?

It was a good try but Winston, you’re at least five years too late, possibly much longer.

The New Zealand First leader made a not so subtle point during Question Time this week when responding to a query from an opposition MP about a UN oceans conference in France.

The question referred to Aotearoa-New Zealand. Peters replied that he had attended the conference but that “no such country turned up, nor is such a country a member of the United Nations.”

Bob Edlin: Sean Plunket breaks news of Fire & Emergency Services’ new Kaupapa Māori Proposal

Breaking Views has posted news of a broadcast by Sean Plunket at The Platform which was triggered by information he had received about a new Kaupapa Maori Proposal at Fire And Emergency New Zealand.

The information was dropped into him anonymously.

Ele Ludemann: Red & political

Federated Farmers is calling for GreenRedpeace to lose its charitable status:

. . . “Greenpeace need to be held accountable for their repeated illegal activity and the spread of harmful misinformation,” Southland Federated Farmers president Jason Herrick says.

David Farrar: 19 Councils have increases rates more than 40% this triennium

The every useful Rates Report from NZTU shows how much rates have increased for each Council in the last three years, and the numbers are staggering. The 10 worst offenders are:

Friday July 25, 2025 

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NZCPR Newsletter: The Anatomy of Dependency

In spite of the Coalition’s best efforts to create jobs and boost economic growth, State dependency continues to grow with the latest June 2025 statistics showing over 12 percent of the working age population receive welfare.

Caleb Anderson: The Forgotten Excesses of Communism

I was interested to read recently of the activities of the Communist party of Aotearoa. Founded on 22 November 2019.

I have also been shocked by the outright, and well publicized, admissions of quite a number of MPs, on the left side of our parliament, who have forthrightly either identified themselves as communist, or who admitted having sympathies with present and past communist regimes.

Ryan Bridge: A new political battlefront's opening up on homelessness

Nobody wants to see streets dotted with tents like San Francisco or downtown LA.

This much-hyped government report to Tama Potaka gives a few insights, but doesn't really nail the problem.

There are more people living rough, but we can't say for sure how many more, and even if we could, we can't say how statistically significant the change might be.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Did the closure of the emergency motels drive the increase in rough sleeping?

Let's be honest with each other about something.

That increase in rough sleeping that the cities are anecdotally reporting to that homelessness report will be caused by the shutting down of those emergency motels. I know the Government's trying to avoid having to admit that, but that is the big thing that's changed since the election.

They've shut down the motels and some of the people who were in those motels, or who might have gone to those motels, have ended up on the streets. And I don't think that that's unexpected.