Roger Partridge: A labour law reform that works for workers

Every day, New Zealand workers clock longer hours than their peers in most developed nations yet produce far less value per hour worked. This productivity paradox has haunted our economy for decades, condemning workers to lower wages and longer working days.

Now, Parliament has a chance to help change this cycle. Select Committee submissions closed last month on the Government’s Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2025.

Simon O'Connor: Violence is the resort for those without reason

The assassination of Charlie Kirk is yet another sad illustration that too many prefer violence to rational debate.

Charlie Kirk was a 31 year old, husband and father of two young children, and someone whose skills were to talk, debate, and discuss. For this, he was assassinated.

Matua Kahurangi: Jacinda Ardern - I was human

Jacinda Ardern likes to remind us she’s human. That’s true. But so was Hitler, and the comparison is closer than most dare to admit.

Her rule over New Zealand during the Covid years was authoritarian in the extreme, leaving behind fear, economic ruin, and a society traumatised.

Mike's Minute: Charter schools starting to get their day in the sun

My uplifting story of the week involves charter schools.

Charter schools are the little idea that could. Or maybe they are the big game-changing idea that could.

We heard this week of the first public school wanting to explore the charter route.

Bob Edlin: Oh dear: look what the Government has done to the wananga..........

Oh dear: look what the Government has done to the wananga – but what about the cutbacks in humanities at Vic?

A tertiary education organisation with around 1,500 staff is about to cut its work force by 4 per cent.

We learned this from the Tertiary Education Union which identified the reason: it is citing “the National-led government’s assault on Māori as the underlying cause of a proposed net loss of 60 jobs at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa”.

An assault on Māori has triggered the wananga’s staff cuts?

Really?

Ele Ludemann: Can we grieve for someone we didn’t know?

A friend asked if I’d heard that Charlie Kirk had been killed.

I said I had but I didn’t know who he was.

Since then I’ve found out:

Peter Jackson: I don't know what to believe

My mother, typically, I suspect, for her generation, had total faith in the media. If it was published in a newspaper or broadcast by radio or TV, it had to be true. Didn't it? No one would publish or broadcast anything they knew to be wrong or weren't sure about.

Mum died almost 30 years ago, and I have no idea if she would still be so trusting today if she was still with us. Perhaps she would be. Her faith in human nature and the fundamental decency of others ran deep. Mine, not so much.

Quite frankly, there are times now when I don't know what to believe.

Friday September 12, 2025 

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David Farrar: Why did Te Pati Maori sack their whip?

The Herald reports:

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi says Te Pāti Māori’s leadership has removed her from the role of party whip despite her enjoying the work.

The role is now listed on Parliament’s website as being held by Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Losing the job comes with a roughly $20,000 salary decrease.

Ryan Bridge: Diplomacy’s gone to the dogs

Remember it was only a month ago Trump was parading around an Alaskan Air Force base, talking up peace for Ukraine.

Within weeks, Putin sends 800 drones across the border - the biggest attack of the war so far.

He’s targeted EU and British government buildings in Kyiv. He’s now entered NATO airspace. The fighter jets were scrambled. The alarm bells rang in Brussels.

Kerre Woodham: Who's going to pay a fine for shoplifting?

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has released a cabinet paper proposing a raft of changes to the Crimes Act. This is part of the coalition agreement with NZ First. It introduces new offences and strengthens existing ones. The proposals include a new strict liability offence for shoplifting, with a $500 infringement fee, doubling to $1,000 if the value of the stolen goods is more than $500.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Boom without bounty - NZ’s economic twist

Tell someone in an Auckland café that the economy is booming and they will laugh. Unemployment in the city is 6.1 per cent. Cafés and shops are closing their doors. Boom? What boom?

Drive through rural Canterbury or Southland, though, and you will see new farm machinery in the paddocks. Business confidence has hit multi-year highs. These regions are prospering.

Both realities are true. New Zealand is simultaneously booming and struggling, and this split reveals how the country manages its money.

Mike's Minute: Public support could be tipping away from teachers

As the teachers maybe, maybe not accept their pay offers and maybe, maybe not go on strike yet again, I can't help but worry about the new recruits.

We were busy celebrating just last week, enrolments to become teachers have gone up markedly – big, big increases.

JC: Two Wings, Same Bird

They are both in the same waka and paddling furiously for Māori dominance.

If what I have listened to recently is true, then yes, Labour and National most definitely are. My source is a podcast from Stop Co-Governance. This is a podcast that talks about matters of race with particular regard to Māori. I put credence on what is discussed for ONE reason: it goes a long way to explaining Luxon’s behaviour and attitude when it comes to Māori issues.

Matua Kahurangi: Ending Police Ten 7 was wrong

I find it deeply strange that pressure was put on Screentime to end Police Ten 7 over allegations of racism and its so-called favourable portrayal of policing. It was the late Auckland councillor Efeso Collins who called on TVNZ to scrap the series, claiming it harmed Māori and Pasifika communities by offering nothing more than “low-level” entertainment. Similar criticism came from Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon.

Bob Edlin: Ferris gives Hipkins another chance to spot racism in a social media post.....

Ferris gives Hipkins another chance to spot racism in a social media post – and voters food for thought about Maori wards

Political reporters have been recalling that during the 2023 election campaign Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he would not stand for “overt racism”.

“I will call it out whenever and wherever I see it,” he said.

Later, he said National’s Christopher Luxon was condoning racism by not calling it out.

Angus Dowell: Politicians love comparing NZ’s economy to Singapore or Ireland – but it’s simplistic and misleading

Unveiling Amazon Web Services’ long-awaited NZ$7.5 billion “cloud region” – a cluster of local data centres – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon specifically referenced Ireland and Singapore as “two economies we often look to for inspiration on investment and technology”.

This kind of comparison has been a familiar refrain in New Zealand politics. More than a decade ago, then prime minister John Key imagined the country as the “Switzerland of the South Pacific”.

Bruce Logan: Two States

The widespread demand for a two-state solution accepted by the Prime Minister and, apparently, the Foreign Minister is neither just nor feasible. The overarching secular mindset fails to comprehend the religiously inspired animus of the countries surrounding it. There is no way they will accept the two-state solution.

Thursday September 11, 2025 

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Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: There's no way Phillips' accomplices didn't know

The people who helped Tom Phillips should absolutely be packing themselves because the cops are making it pretty clear they're coming after them - and in a big way.

Cops have said today that it is clear that Tom Phillips had help recently, judging by the stuff that's lying around in the second camp. And what police are planning to do is to trace where that stuff came from.