Roger Partridge: Cooking up a storm - Robust criticism no threat to Supreme Court

Warren Pyke is, by all accounts, a serious practitioner. Thirty-five years acting for the underprivileged, the vulnerable, the mentally ill, the villainous and a great many “ordinary folk” is real civil-liberties work. His reply in these pages, “Balance needed in criticisms of Lord Cooke and the Supreme Court,” takes issue with my June essay, “Lord Cooke's indictment.” Pyke is right that my column did not survey the whole output of the Supreme Court. It did not attempt to. Most of the court’s judgments doubtless are orthodox and well-reasoned, and nothing I wrote was meant to suggest otherwise. On that much, Pyke and I agree. The complaint was never with the body of the court’s work. It was with an increasing number of radical decisions.

Kerre Woodham: Fairness and land acquisition for public works

Life isn't fair. It's one of the first lessons you learn. And it's not fair when you find yourself, or more accurately your home, right smack in the middle of a vital piece of infrastructure. There's been so many cases around the country over a long period of time, but more recently you had the buyout of houses after the Canterbury quakes. Technically the buyouts of more than 8,000 properties were structured as voluntary offers. However, many residents felt forced to accept because the Government explicitly stated that essential infrastructure and council services would cease in those zones. They would be no more. They'd be living in a literal no man's land. You had the buyout of 160 odd homes for the Waterview Tunnel. We've had 50 odd homes in Ranui in West Auckland bought by the council to make way for new floodplains and to uncover a buried piped stream. So if your house happened to be right over the top of that stream, you were gone.

Bob Edlin: Simeon Brown applies his scalpel to the Medical Council.....

Simeon Brown applies his scalpel to the Medical Council – but Treaty ideology has spread through the health system

The Post reports:


Health Min­is­ter Simeon Brown has removed the lead­er­ship of New Zea­l­and’s med­ical reg­u­lator, accus­ing the Med­ical Coun­cil of pur­su­ing an “ideo­lo­gical agenda” and becom­ing dis­trac­ted from its core respons­ib­il­it­ies.

David Farrar: Labour and Te Pati Maori

Politik reports:

But Labour may have got the jump on ACT with its leader announcing that it is highly unlikely to go into coalition with the Greens or Te Paati Maori, but instead will simply do confidence and supply agreements with the two parties.

This will actually make any Government less stable, and actually make Te Pāti Māori more powerful.

Wednesday June 17, 2026 

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Lindsay Mitchell: Quarter of a million children are now dependent on welfare

It's appalling that a quarter of a million children now need an income from the state to feed, clothe and house them.

Data released under the Official Information Act shows over a quarter of a million children were dependent on welfare at December 2025.

At 31 December 2025 there were 255,300 children aged 0-17 reliant on a caregiver on a main benefit (234,429); or on an Orphan/ Unsupported Child benefit (20,871).

Andrew Dickens: The grownups are in charge of infrastructure

Good Lord. Parliamentarians are actually doing something we've asked for.

They've come up with an Infrastructure Plan for the next 30 years and more remarkably it has rare cross party backing.

It was produced independently by the Infrastructure Commission.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Don't trifle with Erica Stanford

Ooh, let today be a warning to public servants considering trying to get one over Erica Stanford: they may want to rethink that approach and play with a straight bat instead, because Erica Stanford is not one to be trifled with.

Today, she has thrown her officials - her migration officials in particular - under the bus by revealing that they wasted more than $30 million on a biometrics data system that never actually materialised.

Mike's Minute: Are there winners from the Iran deal?

So, we got there. We have a deal. Iran is over – back to normality.

Like most wars, you can spin it any way you want.

In this case, the part relief plays is not to be underestimated.

JC: Driver’s Seat, Back Seat or Boot

I note the Electoral Commission is highlighting the discriminatory nature of the election process, whereby people of a certain colour and ethnicity are offered a choice of either of two rolls on which they can register. How is it that this archaic piece of nonsense is allowed to exist? The only purpose it is serving is to remind the rest of the residing ‘peasants’ that in 2026 we have still not attained ‘one country’ status. It serves to remind us that, in the area that defines what a democratic country is – the rights of the individual – we are a country divided by race. It serves to remind us that a certain minority get a political choice the rest of us are not entitled to.

Colinxy: Labour’s “Three Free GP Visits”......

Labour’s “Three Free GP Visits”: A Policy That Solves Nothing Except Labour’s Need for a Slogan

Labour’s Health Spokesperson, Ayesha Jennifer Verrall, is often introduced to the public with the reassuring phrase “she’s a doctor.” True—though her practising licence appears to have lapsed…and she is now the face of Labour’s latest health‑sector miracle cure: three free GP visits for every New Zealander.

“Free,” of course, being the political euphemism for taxpayer‑funded, which in turn is the bureaucratic euphemism for you will pay for this, just not at the counter.

Simon O'Connor: It's already a failure

I'm prepared to say it now, even before the full text is released, but the framework to end the conflict between Iran and the United States is a already a failure.

I’ve not seen the full text of the agreement between the Islamic Regime and the United States, but I’m prepared already to call it a failure.

At best, this is just the start of a temporary ceasefire. This is not a peace agreement or anything remotely close. It is a memorandum of understanding – an agreement to discuss things further.

Peter Williams: Hooton of The Post

A new way for the newspaper industry

Has New Zealand just appointed its first “celebrity” editor?

The quite remarkable announcement today of columnist, speech writer, PR agent and strategist Matthew Hooton to be the editor of Wellington’s Post newspaper has some overtures of former British cabinet minister Michael Gove becoming editor of The Spectator and one time Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne leading London’s Evening Standard.

Bob Edlin: KiwiRail directors have a track record with infrastructure....

KiwiRail directors have a track record with infrastructure – but what about safety?

Just over a year ago, announcing new appointments to the KiwiRail board, Rail Minister Winston Peters said they brought commercial, freight and rail experience and a ‘can do’ attitude.

But when it comes to safety issues, can they do it as urgently as recent incidents demand?

David Farrar: How Superintendent Naidoo could have avoided all the fuss

Some people think that the scrutiny of Superintendent Naidoo is because he is standing for Labour. It isn’t. It is simply because he didn’t follow the rules laid out in the Police Manual. If he had, none of this would have happened.

Consider what would have occurred if he had approached his boss four months ago when Labour first talked to him about standing. I imagine it would have been something like this.

Alwyn Poole: Austerity? The Public Service Size Increased Again

In the March Quarter the Public Service workforce grew from 63,657 FTEs to 64,535. A quarterly increase of 1.4% and 12 month increase of 2.1%.

Ironically the Ministry for Regulation FTEs grew 11.6%.

Tuesday June 16, 2026 

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Caleb Anderson: Binding Citizens Referenda - could this work?

Increasingly Western voters are losing confidence in the governments they elect, not in New Zealand alone.

Commitments made before elections are frequently ignored or traded, influencers seem to exert disproportionate leverage in shaping policy, while bureaucrats delay and obstruct, and politicians obfuscate.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We've learned not to underestimate Barbara Edmonds

Okay, so we’ve had the first little parry of the election campaign, with Nicola Willis calling a news conference to accuse Labour of numbers that don’t add up, and then Barbara Edmonds responding.

I’m going to call this - by the slimmest of margins - for Edmonds. I think she actually won this exchange purely by holding her ground, sounding confident and pointing out that she doesn’t actually have to have public numbers that add up just yet.

Pee Kay: Consultants or Extortionists?

Last week, one of my mailing group emailed me about claims that a Tauranga iwi is allegedly demanding $45 million to withdraw objections to the Port of Tauranga’s expansion plans.

Naturally this piqued my curiosity, so I decided to do some digging.

It was not difficult to find the story online but it was impossible to find a mention of the $45m, – except on The Platform with Shane Jones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E8_UzHCuW4