Blog

by Simon O'Connor As anticipated, Zohran Mamdani has won the New York mayoralty. He will be the 111th mayor, and while I am not remotely interested in numerology, this figure could well be seen - tongue in cheek - as [...]

The Perspective's week almost began with a coronary. This, from the Taxpayers' Union first thing Monday morning: The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming Finance Minister Barbara Edmonds’ comments over the weekend that she will prioritise fiscal consolidation and getting the Government’s [...]

by Roger Partridge A familiar lament has resurfaced in recent weeks: that Robert Muldoon’s decision to cancel Norm Kirk’s 1975 compulsory superannuation scheme cost New Zealand a trillion-dollar nest egg. The Government’s weekend signal of higher KiwiSaver contributions has given [...]

by Guy Hatchard Dear Grant Illingworth KC and fellow Commissioners I understand from your latest panui that you are currently assessing the evidence you have gathered in order to prepare your final report. Although the Hatchard Report submitted evidence to [...]

by Don Brash With less than a year to go to the next general election, polls suggest that the current Government could well lose to a Labour-led coalition, despite the mess which the last Labour Government left just two years [...]

by Dr Muriel Newman At 4.45 am New Zealand time on 20 April 2010, then Minister of Maori Affairs, Maori Party co-leader Dr Pita Sharples, announced to the United Nations in New York that New Zealand would support the UN’s [...]

by Alwyn Poole School attendance in NZ is in deep trouble. Not just in reference to our historic levels but also compared to other OECD countries. New Zealand’s school attendance is lower than the OECD average, especially in upper secondary [...]

by Rachel Stewart You’d think once you’d decided to eliminate regional councils - as the Government has – you’d be very clear about what you’re replacing them with. Combined Territories Board will be their new code name, but there’s some [...]

by Jenny Ruth Dear Mr Goldsmith, I’m writing to complain about my treatment, and the treatment of Helen Joyce, a former finance editor and international editor at The Economist, at the hands of the Human Rights Review Tribunal (HRRT). I’m [...]

Well, there was I, lolling on my couch watching Steve Price on Sky News Australia filling in for the fiercely grim Peta Credlin, when a News Flash flashed. What was it? An earthquake, ten on the Richter scale? Another attempt [...]

by Sean Rush Response to Your Letter Regarding Upholding Te Tiriti Dear Members of the Board, I am writing in response to your recent letter to the Government stating your intention to uphold Te Tiriti. I have been a proud [...]

by Richard Prebble I admire Dr Bryce Edwards. Our universities like to proclaim themselves the “critic and conscience of society” while remaining silent on almost everything. In contrast, Dr Edwards is industrious. His daily email round-up of commentary often alerts [...]

by Peter Williams The government’s sudden decision to replace elected regional councillors with panels of district and city mayors has been sold as a bold stroke toward streamlining local government. But bold is not the same as wise, and decisive [...]

by Luca Fant We have all heard from the supporters of the proposed Gene Technology Bill that in New Zealand non-GMO can ‘coexist’ with genetic engineering (GE). That we can have it all – GE crops, conventional crops, and organic [...]

by Simon O'Connor Have you noticed how cold water is quickly and figuratively poured over emerging political issues in New Zealand? The latest scandal around some senior police commanders is a good case in point as too the exposure of [...]

by Peter Williams Aah .. Australia. The Lucky Country, the Big Brown Land with its seemingly limitless supply of valuable minerals waiting to be extracted from that vast interior. It’s hard not to be envious of a nation with its [...]

by Richard Prebble If a week is a long time in politics, a year is an eternity. Both Prime Minister Luxon and President Trump must hope so — though for one of them, time may already have run out. In [...]

by Roger Partridge When serious allegations threaten an institution’s reputation or its leader’s credibility, the temptation to bury them may be overwhelming. In New Zealand’s public institutions, a structural flaw makes this suppression not just tempting but rational. Andrew Coster [...]

by Andrew Moran An inflation wave is coming, and it will not be because of tariffs. In the United States and the rest of the world, governments and central banks are preparing to fill the pool with red ink and [...]

by Rachel Stewart How are you feeling about the NZ Police right now? Trusting? I haven’t exactly been feeling great about them ever since the ‘Cuddles’ Coster-led blue boys turned up at my door in 2021, and even put their [...]

by Craig Rucker In Brazil, they call it a “mutirão,” meaning the community pitching in together to accomplish a common goal. At COP30 in Belém, it means you do the paying, and the UN pitches in by doing the collecting. [...]

by Lindsay Perigo It's been a bad month for climate hystericists and their exquisitely stupid Net Zero. First, the junior party in Australia's coalition opposition, the Nationals, dumped it; then the senior partner, the Liberals dumped it too, after much agonising [...]

by Barry Davis Ani Mikaere published He Rukuruku Whakaaro in 2011 which considers the effect of Maori customs, obligations and practice (tikanga) on European law, legal processes and teaching in New Zealand. Mikaere’s book has had indirect influence on legal and policy [...]

by Alwyn Poole A Summary of Cameron Bagrie’s Business Desk Piece on Education (all quotes below) - Do we have equality of opportunity in schooling? We’d like to think so. I’ve heard many politicians talk about it. We do not have [...]

by Dr Muriel Newman Dr Julie Posetti, a Professor of Journalism at the City University of London, described the growing scandal over editorial bias at the BBC as an “existential crisis”. She warned: “You cannot have democracy without credible public [...]

by Dr Eric Crampton Announcements earlier this month make the Emissions Trading Scheme a bit less credible over the longer term. The problem can be fixed – and relatively easily. But it should be fixed. First, a bit of background. [...]

by Zoran Rakovic It was once said (probably by someone in a bar with more brains than security clearance) that New Zealand is the least corrupt country in the world because we’ve perfected the art of doing it politely. No [...]

by Peter Dunne Yes Minister’s Sir Humphrey Appleby once advised his Minister that “nothing must be done for the first time” because “doing the ‘right thing’ once could create a dangerous precedent, obligating one to do it again.” Therefore, he argued it was [...]

by Bruce Cotterill In a week where our unemployment rate hit a post-Covid peak of 5.3%, I’m starting to wonder if Kiwis want to work any more. In a recessionary, low-growth environment, we’re seeing well-paid government servants, people earning more [...]

by Dr Oliver Hartwich Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this week opened the door to asset recycling. He suggested that the government could sell state-owned enterprises and commercial assets it no longer has any reason to own, to fund new infrastructure. [...]

by Rachel Stewart Well, well, well, What do we have here? A former journalist named Michael Prescott, who up until June this year was an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board, has had a document he [...]

by Maree Buscke "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." Sir Walter Scott’s immortal line from his 1808 poem Marmion could serve as an apt preface to the latest work by Trevor Loudon - [...]

by Don Brash Mr President, I speak in opposition to the motion. But I also want to acknowledge at the outset that the British Empire did more good things for more people than any other empire in human history. The [...]

by Simon O'Connor My father was a police officer, and my uncle. A number of my friends are police officers, or once served. I have huge admiration for the work they did and for the police as a whole. But [...]

by Lindsay Perigo How edifying and gratifying to see Te Paaaaati Apaaaaatheid cannibalising itself. I'm not up to speed on why; perhaps it boils down to a basic "There's no honour among thieves ... or tribal primitives," but it would be [...]

by Maree Buscke This weekend I read Jacinda: The Untold Stories - the unauthorised biography by David Cohen with Rebecca Keillor.  This is the book the Ardern luvvies don’t want you to read. It doesn’t fawn over her every move, [...]

by William McGimpsey Introduction Martin Luther King famously said: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are [...]

by Dr Muriel Newman In the early hours of Thursday 30 October 2025, members of the northern Ngatiwai tribe gathered at the Tutukaka marina for a 22 km boat trip to the Poor Knights Islands. Ngatiwai is a multi-million-dollar tribal [...]

by John McLean The New Zealand Initiative prostrates itself to a Māorified Parliament On its website The New Zealand Initiative claims, “We are the organisation to sketch pathways towards a better future”. In October 2025, NZ Initiative sketched out its [...]

by Rachel Stewart Bill Gates. As loathe as I am to discuss the perennial snake in the grass – apologies to snakes – he made a statement about climate change on Oct 28 – interestingly a day after the UN [...]

by Deborah Spiekermann The United Nations has released a report on surrogacy, and its conclusion is stark: all forms—commercial and altruistic alike—violate human rights. The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls calls for the practice to be [...]

by Simon O'Connor The Waitangi Tribunal recently has ruled that the government should change the law for New Zealand citizenship, notably that citizenship by decent rules should be broadened. Importantly and controversially, the Tribunal ruled that this broadening of rules [...]

by Lindsay Perigo It has been Perigo's Perspective all along that climate is driven by the sun, that changing temperatures can easily be accommodated by fossil-fueled and nuclear technology, that climate hysteria is based on a crock, created by crooks [...]

by Oliver Hartwich We all know the Greek myth about Sisyphus, condemned to roll his boulder endlessly uphill, only to watch it tumble back down each time he nears the summit. These images come to mind when I look at [...]

by Peter Williams For a variety of reasons I’ve recently been remembering a fellow called Len Potts, a man many consider the greatest creative mind in the history of New Zealand advertising. I knew Len a bit because we played [...]

by Peter Dunne In 1994 the then Labour Opposition resolved to introduce a new top tax rate of 39 cents in the dollar. The reason for the policy was purely political, not fiscal. Labour was shedding votes to Jim Anderton's [...]

by Roger Partridge Another Judge-Made House of Cards: Why Council Liability Reforms Won’t Save Us From the Perils of Judicial Lawmaking In August 2025, the Government announced the biggest reform to New Zealand’s building consent system in two decades. The [...]

by Peter Williams The Waitangi Tribunal has recommended that citizenship by descent be extended to two generations — but only for people of Māori descent. On the surface, it presents as a technical correction to outdated law. In reality, it [...]

by Peter Williams Dame Noeline Taurua’s temporary removal as coach of the Silver Ferns has been a fiasco from start to finish — and it reveals far more about the failures of Netball New Zealand’s leadership than it does about [...]

by Nick Clark New Zealand's three-year parliamentary term is too short for effective government and the country needs more MPs to keep politicians accessible to voters. “MMP has delivered fairer and more representative parliaments, but it’s time for an upgrade,” [...]

by Rachel Stewart Unrequited love is a bitch, and you are the queen of it. Your curves, your canyons, your low gulches and high, pert peaks are a slow-burning yearning that never goes away. I can be in you, or [...]

by Dr Muriel Newman If the “Deep State” is defined as a power-based network within a government that operates in pursuit of its own agendas and goals instead of those of the country’s democratically elected leaders, then New Zealand has a serious [...]

by Peter Williams Cameron Bagrie is a proud son of Central Otago who’s become one of the most influential economic voices in New Zealand. Back near his old home town of Clyde this week, he told a business audience in [...]

by Lindsay Perigo In earlier Perspectives, I've recommended the works of Christopher Rufo, conservative  American scholar and commentator, particularly America's Cultural Revolution - How the Radical Left Conquered Everything, which traces how the Radical Left did exactly that. This conquest [...]

by Bruce Cotterill A few weeks back, the Prime Minister wrote a letter to the Leader of the Opposition, urging him to join a bipartisan agreement committing to offshore gas exploration for 10 years. Unfortunately, the Labour leader dismissed [...]

by Peter Dunne Labour leader Chris Hipkins has had a noticeable spring in his step in recent days, living up to his nickname “Chippy.” After nearly two years’ dormancy, Labour made two significant policy announcements this week. On Monday Hipkins [...]

by Roger Partridge This month’s Nobel Prize in Economics arrives at an opportune moment. The award to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for having explained innovation-driven economic growth provides a salutary reminder about what drives prosperity. And what does [...]

by Simon O'Connor Recently, I was invited to Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah to give a talk on religious freedom and belief. It was part of a legal symposium organised by The International Center for Law and Religion Studies [...]

by William McGimpsey Introduction This paper explores the challenges facing New Zealand’s news media. It identifies media bias as a key problem for New Zealand democracy and society, and argues for a mixed model of regulation, with a firmer regulatory [...]

by Roger Partridge Labour’s first policy announcement ahead of the 2026 election reveals the party recognises New Zealand’s infrastructure crisis. But it also shows it has no idea how to fix it. Yesterday, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins unveiled a “Future [...]

by Lindsay Perigo Last week  I was at pains to insist that the political violence occurring all over the Western world is instigated by the Left - the Woke-Fascist Left, significantly funded by George Soreass. It's true also, however, that many Trump Derangement Syndromers don't require payment - [...]

by Peter Williams In less than twenty-five years, Facebook has become a global phenomenon. It’s extraordinary to realise that Mark Zuckerberg and a few friends at Harvard University developed the first prototype of the social media giant as recently as [...]

by Claire Deeks LLB, Reg Patent Attorney & Co-Founder RCR Media The backlash against the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has been fierce and deserved. Its attempt to claim jurisdiction over The Platform has triggered outrage with ACT Leader David Seymour [...]

by Peter Williams When doctors, teachers and nurses walk off the job together it can make international headlines — but that doesn’t mean it’s wise, principled or remotely strategic. Thursday’s public service strike may thrill some union executives and excite [...]

by Peter Williams I spent nearly five decades in the New Zealand broadcasting industry, most of it when the world was very different. They were times when a national radio network of frequencies was a hard won and expensive privilege, [...]

by Peter Williams Two of New Zealand’s cornerstone farmer-owned cooperatives — Alliance Group and Fonterra — are simultaneously grappling with the brutal reality of global agribusiness economics. Between Alliance’s proposal to sell 65% of its meat business to the Irish [...]

by Peter Dunne The great Scottish poet Robbie Burns’ famous quote “O wad some Power the giftie gie us to see oursels as ithers see us!" could well have been written solely for politics because politicians often have the greatest capacity for [...]

by Simon O'Connor The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has recently decided to go after Sean Plunket and his online radio show, The Platform. The BSA has unilaterally decided that they have the legal authority to oversee his online presence and consequently, [...]

by Dr Muriel Newman Community disillusionment over councils going off the rails was on full display last weekend as voters reshaped local government in the 2025 elections. Across the country, high-spending councillors were booted out and replaced by those promising more responsible [...]

by Simon O'Connor There is a ceasefire. After two long bloody years, Hamas has finally done what it should have done many months ago – release the Israeli hostages. As we tragically know, they did not, and many of the [...]

by Lindsay Perigo Well, it happened. The man who ended wars we didn't know about between countries we'd never heard of stopped a big one. Against all odds. I started to allow myself to believe it could happen when I [...]

by William McGimpsey Sir Karl Popper had an idea called the paradox of tolerance, which in brief was that if a society is too tolerant - if it tolerates intolerance - then the intolerant will ‘take over’ and society won’t [...]

by Mike Butler Twenty three council districts voted to remove Maori wards established without mandate since 2021 while 17 districts voted to keep them, according to early results published yesterday. A total of 45 councils had imposed Maori wards after [...]

by Richard Prebble “Group of 20 economists urge PM and Minister of Finance to urgently change course,” screamed the headlines. When I was a finance minister, I remember similar letters — economists demanding a return to central planning and subsidies. [...]

by Peter Williams Saturday night on TVNZ One appears to now be a wasteland for worthy stuff while those who still watch linear television can soak up the live sport like the NPC quarter finals or the Bathurst Top Ten [...]

by Peter Dunne There is a crisis of confidence affecting the two old parties, National and Labour, and it is getting worse. Between them presently they are attracting around only 60% support in public opinion polls, the lowest combined vote [...]

by Rachel Stewart Last week, I talked about cowards and how it’s the one trait in humans I despise the most. But how about heroes? Heroes are nice to have, but increasingly hard to find. And, of course, your choice [...]

by Wendy Geus Do NZ's appalling attendance rates reflect parents' rejection of race mandated education? Are the many women with their healthy, energetic kids I see in the supermarket during school hours rejecting Stanford's mandatory, Maori infused programme, or do [...]

by Lindsay Perigo It has become a pattern now that in the immediate aftermath of my weekly Perspective, some major, often hideous, event occurs to vindicate its content. Last week, no sooner had I cited OMBA's bold attack on mass [...]

by Simon O'Connor I am writing on the road, currently in Provo in Utah (next to Salt Lake City) for a symposium where I am presenting a paper at Brigham Young University (BYU) on religious freedom and belief. It is [...]

by Michael Bassett We have entered a new world where few things are on the level. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Dictatorland. Vladimir Putin’s forces brazenly invaded Ukraine in 2022, breaking a vital stipulation in the United Nations [...]

by Dr Muriel Newman Two years ago, we were counting the days to the 14 October General Election. With the left-leaning legacy media in overdrive – promoting the parties on the left and attacking those on the centre-right, New Zealanders [...]

by Iain Davis In my previous article I suggested that the UK’s proposed “mandatory” digital ID, called the BritCard, was a bait and switch psyop. I posited that the arguments presented by Keir Starmer’s purported Labour government, to supposedly justify the BritCard rollout, coupled with [...]

Of all human traits it is cowardice that offends me the most. I despise cowards with the heat of a thousand suns. They are useless pimples on the arse of the world. Cowardice is the polar opposite of courage. [...]

by Lindsay Perigo How delicious it is - how edifying and gratifying - when Woke-Fascists in politics and the media get their panties in a twist all at once. Lockstep apoplexy. Their squawking, squealing, screeching and screaming tell us that [...]

by Bruce Cotterill When the latest quarterly GDP result came out last week, many of the accompanying commentaries expressed surprise that it could be so bad. The June quarter result came in with a negative result of 0.9%. That means [...]

by John Robertson New Zealand’s Laws Are Enforcing Spiritual Privilege — And Nobody’s Talking About It Open a law, a bill, or a policy in this country, and one thing jumps out: Māori spiritual beliefs, wrapped in the language of [...]

by Iain Davis Apparently, in order to be able to work in the UK, we will all be forced to adopt digital ID—the mandatory so-called BritCard. There is absolutely no public appetite for this, as the more than 2 million and [...]

by Dr Muriel Newman The ‘Maorification’ of New Zealand is not by accident. For decades tribal leaders have been plotting and scheming how to get their hands on the levers of power. Their objective is full control of our country. [...]

by John McClean Has maximum Māori separatism been reached? The 50th Rainbow-tongued Māori Language Week is over. I was in Morocco that week, so missed the opportunity to contribute to the associated State-sponsored Te Reo Time Capsule (to be opened [...]

So what didn’t you hear about on mainstream media this week? What major world event didn’t make the breathless, sweaty web pages of what passes for news in New Zealand? What did our illustrious state broadcaster – that we pay [...]

by Lindsay Perigo How edifying and gratifying! The spectacle of normal, sane, decent people, 200,000 of them, gathered together in one of the largest memorial gatherings ever, to bid farewell to Charlie Kirk. Not to mention millions all over the world [...]

by Nick Clark Three weeks. That is how long New Zealanders waited to know the outcome of the 2023 election. While coalition talks were delayed pending the declaration of results, most comparable democracies can declare theirs within hours or days [...]

by Roger Partridge A response to Koi Tū's “news deserts” report. Local journalism faces genuine crisis. Towns across New Zealand risk becoming “news deserts” where civic life unfolds without professional scrutiny. Dr Gavin Ellis’s comprehensive report for Koi Tū documents [...]

by Lindsay Mitchell Asians will make-up a third of New Zealand's population by 2048. (View interactive image here) For those worried about one in eight working-age New Zealanders currently relying on a benefit, this is good news. That's because Asians are [...]

by Roger Partridge When Parliament says gang insignia “is forfeited to the Crown,” citizens are entitled to assume those words mean what they say. Yet on 11 August the District Court ruled otherwise. Judge Lance Rowe directed that a Mongrel [...]

by Keri Molloy In the weeks ahead the New Zealand government will weigh up the cost of the World Health Organisation’s new package of amended International Health Regulations. The government will need to decide its position before a December 2025 [...]

by Roger Partridge In New Zealand economics, numbers have personalities. Two supermarkets are a duopoly. Three would be perfection – except four banks are still an oligopoly. One airline is intolerable, even though two always seem to collapse. The equation [...]

by Dr Peter Winsley Many young New Zealanders feel that a social contract has been breached. This tacit contract is that, if students worked and studied hard, the government would maintain through its institutions the macroeconomic stability and microeconomic flexibility [...]

by Simon O'Connor Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the recent release of an exclusive interview with Israel and Maria Folau, I’ve been asking myself - what is the right response to having your views challenged so aggressively and dramatically [...]