Roger Partridge: Your Business, Their Election Promise

The 2026 election campaign has not got off to a good start for business – or for the country. National, Labour, the Greens and New Zealand First have each made dangerous promises to intervene in private commercial arrangements. The tally so far includes supermarket ownership, retirement village contracts, commercial leases and the price of food.

None of these interventions rests on a finding that anyone has broken the law. No court judgment, no Commerce Commission determination, nothing.

That matters. Businesses invest when they can rely on owning what they build. Firms sign contracts when they can rely on the terms being honoured. Disregard either and the effect on the economy is chilling.

Geoff Parker: Wangarei, Wangaree Or Whangarei?

Who decided that the old spelling was wrong?

There is a fascinating question hiding in plain sight in the name of one of Northland's best-known cities:

When did Wangarei become Whangarei — and why?

The answer to the first question is reasonably clear.

The answer to the second is less straightforward.

Kerre Woodham: Time is running out for businesses that run on gas

Time is running out for the businesses that generate billions of dollars worth of GDP and that employ a quarter of a million New Zealanders.

They're the businesses that run on gas. Your bakers, your coffee roasters, your wineries, your wood processors, your ag sec. And that's not counting the schools and hospitals dependent on gas to heat their buildings.

Time is running out because the gas they operate on is running out. It's a finite resource. And as yet, they haven't found anything to replace it.

David Farrar: Super may consume 30% of the tax take!

The Post reports:

A new paper examining the future of New Zealand Superannuation has found that, if left unchanged, the scheme could consume more than 30% of the Government’s tax revenue every year by 2065 and will be unsustainable in its current form.

The paper, published in the International Review of Public Administration in late August, was authored by outgoing National Party MP Andrew Bayly, his former adviser Leonard Hong, and Emmanuel Jo from the University of Auckland’s School of Medicine.

We must make it more sustainable.

Tim Donner: The Golden Age of Trump - The Future

From the moment Donald Trump made his grand entrance onto the political stage, one of the primary lines of attack against the bombastic outsider, among countless others, is that he “is only out for himself.” In fact, that was a core message of Democrats across the land and prominent commercials for both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that aired thousands of times during the 2024 presidential campaign. Biden/Harris care about the working man and woman, while Trump only seeks his own glory. It was a bookend narrative to Trump’s famously successful ad tying Harris to a purple-haired freak depicted as they/them, while Trump is for you.

Friday September 25, 2026 

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Rodney Hide: One job ad

The Department of Conservation is hiring a Principal Iwi Strategy and Partnerships Advisor.

https://nz.seek.com/job/94787886?type=standard&ref=search-standalone#sol=5dd0cb1365ceb02fd37ba1f0b885ce8dc67fed3c

Wellington. Permanent. $110,033 to $145,000.

The ad does not whisper. It shouts.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Let's hope the Government hasn't lost its nerve on amalgamations

It has been revealed the Government has pumped the brakes on the council reform it was rushing to get done. I think the councils and mayors who are angry about this have every reason to be really, really cross.

Dion Swiggs of ECan says he's 'disgusted'. Timaru's mayor says this is 'disappointing'. Mackenzie District's mayor says he's 'utterly disappointed'. Porirua's mayor says she's 'fuming' and has called the Government 'cowards'.

Ryan Bridge: Looks like the LNG deal's dead in the water, for now

Energy is everything, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

The LNG terminal is on ice 'till after the election. Shane Jones told Ryan Bridge Today as much last week.

The Taranaki project hasn't been green lit by Cabinet and there's no way it will be pre-election. There's also no way a contract of that sort would be signed by what is basically a caretaker government.

Guest Post: An open letter to Prime Minister Luxon

Guest Post on No Minister by Hugh Perrett

Rt Hon Prime Minister Luxon,

Retailer-owned Co-operatives ( such as Foodstuffs ) with the ‘owner-operator members’ stores trading in ‘Groups’ under brand/banner names owned by the Co-operative (in Foodstuffs case New World , Pak’NSave and Four Square) are COMMON THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. In Foodstuffs case they also have ‘non-advertising’ members who trade independently outside of the Group banner system.

John McLean: The Do-Nothing Nats

How do we not love them? Let us count three ways…

At core, New Zealand Governments should be about orchestrating Parliament to pass new legislation.

Heated debates, hot air and empty promises change nothing. Enacted legislation is the only way Parliament can change New Zealand’s legal landscape. Enactments can comprise entirely new Acts of Parliament, or repeal or amend existing legislation.

Colinxy: How DEI Became the West’s New State Ideology

The Soviet playbook didn’t disappear — it migrated

Modern DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) is marketed as a moral breakthrough, a humane framework for justice, representation, and social harmony. But strip away the branding, and you find something older, darker, and unmistakably familiar.

DEI is not a new ideology. DEI is the Soviet nationalities policy reborn: Raznoobrazsiya and Korenizatsiia with corporate logos and HR departments.

The West did not invent DEI. It inherited it.

Yvonne Van Dongen: Butter Chicken Tsunami

Flood a nation with different cultures at warp speed and watch what happens

Twelve years ago I had an Indian flatmate on contract to an IT company. He’d already worked in the United Kingdom and the United States and found New Zealand to be the most welcoming country he had lived in. I doubt he would say that now.

Now we have reports of anti-Indian racist grafitti outside an Auckland primary school where over 60 percent of the pupils are Indian, police data shows South Asians are the group most experiencing racial abuse and, on rare occasions, this abuse has led to violence.

What’s changed?

David Farrar: Prebble and ChatGPT score the last two Governments

Richard Prebble asked ChatGPT to score the last two Governments on how they had performed in key areas. The summary is:

David Farrar: The Hager story implodes even more

I wasn’t going to blog again on the Hager book as it was already clear he had so many things absolutely wrong. But three more things today are too noteworthy to pass by.

Richard Prebble: Nicky Hager’s new book reminds me of my shameful mistake

Whenever Hager publishes one of his hit jobs it reminds me that I once was a target. The memory makes me burn with shame.

Hager wrote that Roger Douglas and I were part of conspiracy to appoint Don Brash, Governor of the Reserve Bank.

Mike's Minute: The BSA legislation should have been delivered sooner

If I was generous, I would let him off, given he has got more portfolios than anyone.

But Paul Goldsmith has delivered to Parliament the bit of legislation that will finally finish off the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

He did it with a flourish of slightly embarrassing bonhomie.

Thursday September 24, 2026 

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NZCPR Newsletter: Strategic Voting to Win

In the lead up to the 1984 election, Bob Jones’s New Zealand Party stormed onto the political scene, winning one vote in eight, but gaining no seats in Parliament.

As a result, 256,000 votes were wasted. Our First Past the Post voting system left a quarter of a million voters completely unrepresented.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: You can't read Nicky Hager's new book without being struck by bias

I can't decide whether Nicky Hager is naïve or sheltered. Surely it must have been obvious to him while writing this book that the very thing he's accusing Jordan Williams and the Taxpayers' Union of doing is exactly what he is doing himself: acting as a proxy to help political parties.