Stuff reports:

A Government ministry has taken the time to threaten legal action against Stuff, all over a photo of a 45-year-old magazine used in a Stuff Quiz.

On June 26, question five of the Stuff morning trivia quiz asked who appeared on the debut cover of Playboy magazine. To accompany the question, the quiz featured an archive image of a person reading Playboy.

That has offended a civil servant, who wrote to Stuff four days after the quiz was published threatening legal action on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

If Stuff refuses to comply with the ministry’s demands, it could face $2000 infringement fines followed by a $200,000 fine, the letter warned. …

It wasn’t the Playboy cover which caused offence. That was just promising to give readers “an irresistible survey of saucy sisters”.

No, it was the back page which led to the threat. That page, from an archive copy of Playboy, featured an advert for a cigarette brand.

Tell me again now how we can’t possibly survive with fewer public servants!

The quiz featured a historical magazine. It was not an advertisement. Does the Ministry of Health want us to burn all back copies of magazines that had a cigarette ad in them 50 years ago?

So so stupid.

NZ First have announced that Michael Laws will stand for NZ First in Waitaki.

The seat is a very traditional National seat. Last election they got 43% party vote (5% higher than NZ average) and NZF got 7% (1% higher than NZ average) . The majority is over 12,000.

Laws has been elected to the Otago Regional Council four times. His record is:

• 2016: Won final spot by just 5 votes
• 2019: Won top spot by 1,600 votes
• 2022: Won third (last) spot by 21 votes
• 2025: Won top spot by 2,300 votes

It will be an interesting seat to watch. Also interesting to see the NZ First party list when released.

The Court of Appeal has rejected every aspect of Kim Dotcom’s appeal against the decision of the High Court judicially reviewing the decision of the Justice Minister to extradite Dotcom. No doubt he will try to appeal this to the Supreme Court, but after that it will finally be over.

Apart from losing on every issue, Dotcom also got hit with a 50% increase in costs because of his attempt to adjourn the hearing the day before. The Court noted:

In our view, whatever the intentions were in seeking an adjournment, the fact remains it was sought. The respondents could not just ignore the application which was sprung on them at the very last minute. They were put to unnecessary expense in having to review the material and then respond to it literally overnight under urgency.

To suggest that the eleventh-hour timing was simply a function of when the Cox decision was released was a misleading explanation in so far as Mr Dotcom was suggesting he had only just become aware of the decision. The tweets indicated hehad in fact been aware of it and its claimed effect on his own case back on 27 March.

In short, the respondents were unreasonably taken by surprise.

It was a desperate attempt to get another delay, which thankfully the Court did not fall for.

Brian Tamaki was reported as saying:

In a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday, the Destiny Church founder accuses Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of purging Christians in the South Asian nation.

“He [Modi] is currently purging India of all Christians and burning church buildings down,” Tamaki said.

“I think we should reciprocate in kind. Let’s purge New Zealand of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. And, while we’re at it, if they’re burning churches down, why don’t we burn mosques and their temples down? Tit for tat.”

Tamaki explicitly said NZ should be purged of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, on the basis he doesn’t like what the leader of a foreign country is doing.

For those inclined to defend what he said, think about if he had said:

“Benjamin Netanyahu is currently purging Israel of all Muslims and burning mosques down. I think we should reciprocate in kind. Let’s purge NZ of Jews. And while we’re at it, if they’re burning mosques down, why don’t we burn their synagogues down”

Both statements are equally vile. He calls for a purge of New Zealand citizens based on their religion, and suggests burning down their places of worship. One can condemn what happens in India (which actually sees Muslims, Sikhs and Christians all targeted – not just Christians) without using it to condemn three entire religions. It is especially ironic that Muslims and Sikhs in India are also victims of Hindu nationalism, and Tamaki calls for them to be purged because I guess to him they’re all the same.

The statements do not necessarily meet the threshold for criminal prosecution, but they do meet the threshold to consider whether he should have the privilege (not the right) of owning guns. I prefer gun owners not to call for purges of religious minorities and burning down places of worship.

Ashley Church sets out why TOP is not a centrist party. The evidence is overwhelming:

• 38 out of 43 candidates come from left-wing backgrounds
• The general manager is a former Labour Cabinet Minister, who was in a business partnership with the fiancee of the Labour Leader.
• They are proposing the largest ever increase in tax and welfare spending in NZ history
• They want adults aged 25 and under to be tried in the Youth Court, which would see hundreds or thousands of serious violent recidivists walking free
• Over 95% of their policies fit comfortably with Labour and the Greens and Te Pati Maori

It’s not even close.

If TOP are in Parliament I would offer odds of 20:1 (if DIA allowed me) that they would support a Labour-Green-Te Pati Maori Government over a centre-right one.

When Damien O’Connor was standing on the West Coast, he was pro mining. He was even accused of being out of step with his party.

But now he has left the West Coast, he is now passionately anti-mining. The Post reports:

Senior Labour MP Damien O’Connor has made his party’s strongest comments yet in opposition to a controversial gold mine planned near Cromwell.

“I’m starting to appreciate the expanse and the unique and fragile environment that is Central Otago,” O’Connor recently told a gathering at the proposed mine site at Bendigo, south of Tarras.

“You can’t just come and put a mine in.”

Such a man of principle.

“You hear a lot of claims from mining companies how they’ll benefit the local community. The reality is that, in the short term, local people will be affected, and can I say I empathise with those local people living here, who are right at the forefront of this disruption.

“There’ll be some short-term gains, contractors get work, then the medium and the long term issues must be considered.”

Here is what is interesting. Mining is actually hugely popular in the communities that have mines.

In an April poll Curia did for the NZ Minerals Council, we asked if people had a positive, neutral or negative view of mining in NZ. Here’s the breakdown by area.

People in Wellington don’t like mining. People who live where the mines are, love mining.

Otago Public Health academics write:

Estimates of illicit tobacco use in Aotearoa New Zealand differ sharply. Although tobacco industry-funded studies suggest the illicit tobacco market is large and growing rapidly, independent research has consistently found much lower levels. 

However, evidence that border seizures have increased, alongside rapid growth in Australia’s illicit tobacco market, suggests Aotearoa must act now to prevent illicit tobacco from becoming established and undermining efforts to reduce smoking.

For years they have denied there is a problem, but finally the evidence is so overwhelming, they can’t deny it. This is progress I guess.

First, Aotearoa should accede to the World Health Organisation’s Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. This requires parties to control the tobacco supply chain by licensing all importers, distributors and retailers, thus creating greater accountability throughout the supply chain.

Regulators would allocate licences after applicants underwent a “fit and proper person” assessment and licence holders would have to maintain detailed sales records, to enable monitoring. Licensing would enable regulators to manage the location and number of tobacco retailers, helping prevent clusters of outlets near schools or in lower-income communities.

This will actually grow the black market. The harder you make it for legal retailers, the easier you make it for illegal retailers.

Second, stronger regulation must occur alongside expanded border enforcement. Illicit tobacco threatens communities’ wellbeing and puts Aotearoa’s biosecurity at risk. Customs and the Ministry for Primary Industries need additional funding to support greatly expanded screening alongside investment in advanced detection technologies capable of identifying and intercepting illicit imports before they reach the domestic market.

Agree here.

Third, enforcement must include the domestic market. Reports of illicit tobacco sales through existing retailers, at pop-up stores, via in-person and online markets, and from private houses, suggest suppliers are already developing diverse distribution channels; these require a swift and decisive response to shut them down.

Also agree.

Fourth, penalties for non-compliance must increase. The reported low cost of producing illicit cigarettes, means laws need to be fit-for-purpose. Penalties for supplying illicit tobacco must be severe and Smokefree Enforcement Officers should have powers to impose store closure orders and large on-the-spot fines. Other penalties should include imprisonment and deportation, where appropriate.

Again I agree. Excellent.

Fifth, as well as integrating processes to detect and deter illicit tobacco trade, Aotearoa needs comprehensive surveillance of illicit tobacco activity, including ongoing analyses of border interceptions and domestic seizures, monitoring of social media marketplaces and research into purchase patterns. Regular monitoring of reported illicit tobacco use, including prices paid, products used and their sources, would help target resources and provide baseline data to evaluate measures taken.

Also fine.

Finally, and crucially, Aotearoa needs more effective measures to decrease smoking prevalence, including maintaining the high excise taxes that have reduced smoking prevalence and remain a key reason why people who smoke try to quit. Proposals to freeze or lower excise taxes will increase smoking rates; that may enhance tobacco companies’ profits, but it will lead to more completely avoidable deaths.

Here is where their ideology interferes. There can be no doubt that the massive increase in the cost of legal tobacco has fuelled the explosion in the black market.

Increasing the price through excise tax was once a very good measure to decrease smoking. Ten years ago I was saying that excise tax increases would be better than the unproven theory of plain packaging. And the excise tax increases worked – until they didn’t. There comes a price point where you have pushed out all the smokers who are price sensitive, and then you just have the hard core who will remain smokers regardless, and they swap to the black market.

This is common sense. Increasing a pack of cigarettes from say $10 to $12 didn’t fuel the black market, but having them go to $36 did. If the retail price was $100 do you think the black market would be more or less than today? More, of course.

Now I agree there is no point in cutting excise tax. The sad reality is that once you have pushed a huge number of smokers into the black market, a small reduction in legal price will not get them back. The damage done is not easily reversible.

But further increases to excise tax is a very dumb idea. It will drive more people into the black market where there is no regulation, no tax, no health warnings etc.

So their points 2 to 4 are fine. Their points 1 and 6 are ideology over evidence.

But credit where credit is due. Just having them acknowledge there is a problem is a big step forward to evidence based policy.

As readers will know Denis O’Reilly is a life member of Black Power. He was very critical of the gang patch ban. In Nov 24 he said:

Lifetime Black Power member Denis O’Reilly says the government’s gang patch ban won’t work, saying the police should concentrate on behavior instead.

Three months later:

Black Power kaumātua Denis O’Reilly acknowledged that the first three months of the ban had certainly been “miraculous”.

“We all anticipated consequences – I personally was afraid of a big clash – but the consequences seem to be that gangs have disappeared.

“For some of the indigenous gangs, it’s been an opportunity to reflect and ask themselves whether patches were what they wanted their gang membership to be characterised by, rather than a sense of whānau,” he said.

A good start.

Six months afterward in May 2025:

But Black Power life member Denis O’Reilly said gang members had been complying.

“Yes, it seems so far, so good… They’re not wearing them in public. That’s the thing. People are complying. So that confrontational thing hasn’t occurred.”

He said sightings of gang patches were “nil” in Hawke’s Bay where he lives. …

Black Power member O’Reilly believed the ban had left gangs at something of a crossroads. “There’s a bit of reflection going on,” he said. “And it is an opportunity, I think, to nudge people’s behaviour towards a more pro-social outlook.”

When asked if patches may be a thing of the past, he said “they may well be”.

So six months on in Hawke’s Bay was not patch free, and it was not an opportunity for a more pro-social outlook for gang members,.

And just a few months ago:

He said the Government’s patch ban had been “useful” in reducing aggravations between gang members, as well as with the public.

“It’s also given a number of people a chance to ask themselves why they’re wearing a patch and what that’s all about.

“Because they’re not having to wear a patch and not having to congregate in that way, many are asking themselves, ‘Look, what am I really on about? Is this my whānau or whatever?’”

So credit for allowing the facts to influence his opinion. He said it wouldn’t work, and now he says it has reduced aggravations between gangs, and between gangs and the public.

The Paris Agreement was done in 2015, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The latest data is for 2024, so I thought it would be interesting to see which countries have had the largest decreases and increases.

Decreases (MT)

1. US -451
2. Japan -260
3. Germany -230
4. UK -141
5. Ukraine –120
6. Venezuela -96
7. France -84
8. Italy -62
9. Spain -58
10. Netherlands -56

So the largest decline on GG emissions has actually been the United States.

Increases (MT)

1. China +2,605
2. India +1,060
3. Indonesia +470
4. Russia +327
5. Iran +261
6. Vietnam +240
7. Iraq +137
8. Turkey +114
9. Pakistan +102
10. Saudi Arabia +86

NZ by the way is 8.3MT lower than in 2015. So our decline is around 1/300 of China’s increase.

How about by percentage

Largest declines

1. Estonia -45%
2. Equatorial Guinea -43%
3. Lebanon -42%
4. Ukraine -38%
5. Venezuela -36%
6. Netherlands -28%
7. UK -27%
8. Bulgaria -26%
9. Germany -25%
10. Czechia -25%

NZ is down 10%.

Largest increases

1. Mongolia +97%
2. Laos +94%
3. Guyana +91%
4. Viet Nam +70%
5. Chad +61%
6. Indonesia +55%
7. North Korea +54%
8. Iraq +50%
9. Mali +49%
10. Togo +49%

Derek Cheng writes:

“Almost all socio-economically disadvantaged children fell behind in maths last year by Year 3, with 95% below curriculum level and 70% more than a year behind.

The proportion for this cohort of disadvantaged kids was almost as high for writing: 91% were already below curriculum level in Year 3, with 80% already more than a year in arears.

That’s according to the latest foundational assessment data, for 2025, which shows the inequity gap widening not only in maths and writing but also in reading, where two out of three disadvantaged kids in Year 3 were more than a year behind.

For reading, in 2023, 52% of socio-economically disadvantaged Year 3 students had fallen more than a year behind curriculum level. In 2025, it was 67%.

The proportion for the same cohort for Year 6 kids was 61% in 2023, barely moving to 62% in 2025. For the same grouping of Year 8 students, the leap from 2023 to 2025 was from 56% to 66%.

For writing, in 2024, the Year 3 “more barriers” cohort who were more than a year behind was 56%. Last year, it swelled to 80%.

The share of the same cohort for Year 6 kids was 74% last year (up from 65% in 2024), and for Year 8 students it was 79% (up from 69% in 2024).

The pattern is mirrored but far less pronounced for maths, when comparing the cohort’s 2023 and 2025 data: 67%-70% for Year 3 and 79%-83% for Year 8.

Year 6 bucked the trend, though the proportion of socially disadvantaged kids more than a year behind remained stubbornly high: 84% in 2023, and 82% in 2025.”

The article does contain some positive points for the current government’s change in approach for some children and in some situations.

Genuine change will come – as I have stated before:

• When, as a nation, we truly enhance parenting and significantly increase the proportion of children arriving at school ready to go.
• When we get significantly more than 48% of children at high Equity Index schools fully attending.
• When the Equity Index spend is much greater that a maximum of 3% of a school’s funding to help students overcome disadvantage (EQI spending is a mere $250m out of a VOTE Education of approx. $7.5b.
• ….. among other things.

[email protected]

A guest post by The Campaign Company:

There are plenty of digital marketing jobs in New Zealand. There are plenty of political jobs. There are a few public affairs and advocacy jobs.

But there are very few roles that sit properly at the intersection of all three.

The Campaign Company is hiring a Head of Political Digital Strategy— a specialist role for someone who understands politics, advocacy, public persuasion, and the practical realities of running serious digital campaigns.

This is not a generic marketing job where you are selling shoes, SaaS subscriptions, or smoothies. The successful candidate will be working with political, advocacy, public-facing and commercial clients in New Zealand, Australia and further afield, helping them sharpen their message, reach the right audiences, and run campaigns that can actually shift opinion, mobilise supporters, and influence decision-makers.

The role is part strategist, part campaign manager, part digital marketer, part political communications operator. One week might involve helping a candidate refine their online message. Another might involve coordinating creative, managing paid advertising, reviewing campaign analytics, building landing pages, or advising a client on how to respond to a fast-moving political issue.

In New Zealand, that combination is close to one of a kind.

The Campaign Company already has an established and interesting client base, and the role has significant room to grow. For the right person, this is an opportunity to help professionalise political and advocacy campaigning in New Zealand and Australia — and to lead work that sits much closer to public debate than ordinary agency work.

They are looking for someone with strong communication skills, good political judgement, project management ability, experience with digital campaigns, and comfort dealing directly with clients and stakeholders.

This would suit someone who is politically minded, digitally sharp, calm under pressure, and interested in doing work that actually matters.

And unlike most political jobs, it’s based in the City of Sails!

The job ad is here:
https://nz.seek.com/job/92878963

Radio NZ reports:

If the man who has spent more than 35 years in jail for one of New Zealand’s most notorious crimes is released from prison he will likely live unrecognised, according to a new ruling from the Parole Board

The board has ruled that current photos of Paul Joseph Dally, who raped and murdered 13-year-old Karla Cardno in May 1989, cannot be published.

The board has also made non-publication orders for the address from which he’d be released from prison to, if parole were granted, and any other relevant information leading to his identification.

So their concern is protecting Mr Dally, not allowing the families who will live next door to him being able to realise a convicted child rapist and killer is now hanging around their kids.

Maybe the Parole Board members should take him on as a boarder?

A review ordered by the board in 2009 found he scored highly on the “psychopathy checklist measure”, and that his characteristics pointed to the likelihood of serious violent and sexual recidivism.

Yet they’re now about to release him!

His risk of reoffending had changed from extremely high when he began his sentence to, in recent years, a low risk of violent offending and an average risk of sexual offending.

He has a life sentence. If they keep him in prison, then his risk of reoffending is extremely low for both violent and sexual offending.

Radio NZ reported:

Stunned Waitaki District ratepayers facing rates increases of up to 45 percent are calling for a government probe of council’s finances, with some worried people will lose their homes.

The council has been seeking feedback on three possible rates rises of 19 percent, 27 percent or 45 percent as it tries to plug a projected $14 million operating deficit for the next financial year.

Oamaru ratepayer Kurt Scriven said none of the three options felt feasible for residents, whose rates had already gone up about 30 percent over the past three years.

So the best option is a 19% increase and the worst a 45%. Outrageous. Heads should roll.

Ironically the Mayor stood on the following platform:

Affordability is our biggest issue, and we need to minimise council spend and find non-rate solutions to our funding challenges.

How can you campaign on that and then once elected say we need to hike rates from 19% to 45%???

A reader writes in:

 I read your article on the Royal Commission finding the disturbing part is this is 7 months before! 

We have caught the previous executive out on demonstrable untruths regarding a critical timeline, and have formally escalated complaints to both the Chief Archivist and the Public Service Commission (at the explicit suggestion of the Ombudsman investigator who is also investigating refused documents ).

The core of the issue centers on a high-level meeting involving the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet ministers on Friday, 13 August 2021 to decide on the youth vaccine rollout and the intentional removal of safety data from public communications.

Here is the hard data and the paper trail we have uncovered:

• The Verified Attendance List: Ministry of Health OIA response (Ref: H2026082262) explicitly confirms that Chair Chris Hipkins, PM Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson, Andrew Little, Dr. Ayesha Verrall, Aupito William Sio, and Peeni Henare all attended this Zoom meeting.
• The Diary Omissions & Physical Alteration: Despite official confirmation that this high-stakes meeting occurred, it is entirely missing from the proactive monthly diaries of Ardern, Hipkins, and Little. More egregiously, in Deputy PM Grant Robertson’s official diary, the “1” was stripped off the front of the “13” (rendering it a single digit), causing the entry to sit completely out of chronological sequence on the page to effectively bury it.
• The Admission of No Minutes: In the same OIA response, the Ministry of Health officially admits that this high-stakes meeting—where core executive ministers made pivotal decisions—was completely unminuted, and no official notes exist.
• The Smoking Gun on Data Removal: Real-time operational papers place Chief Science Advisor Ian Town directly at the meeting with a 7-point clinical briefing paper. Three days later, a Cabinet paper signed by Hipkins completely scrubbed any reference to myocarditis risks in young people. This matches the official CV TAG Minutes from 17 August 2021 (chaired by Town), which state in black and white under Section 6.0: “It was requested that references to increasing dosing intervals potentially providing some protection against myocarditis be removed from communications. This has been actioned.”

This is a fundamental breach of Section 17 of the Public Records Act 2005, which mandates a strict statutory duty to maintain a full, accurate, and uncorrupted chronological ledger of executive action. When official ministerial records can be quietly scrubbed, physically manipulated, or left entirely unminuted to bypass OIA and Ombudsman oversight, it sets a dangerous precedent for public service accountability. regardless of who is in power.

Also worthy to note is the sanitisation of the Jan 16th cabinet meeting. You can see from the cabinet paper signed by Hipkins after the 13th and before the 16th, that any references to the dosage intervals reducing risk of Myocarditis in 12 to 15 years old is sanitised from the papers to the rest of the cabinet. So they kept their own cabinet in the dark AND the public 

On Patreon I write:

Ideologically I have never been a fan of compulsory superannuation. In fact I campaigned strongly against a yes vote in the 1997 referendum on Winston Peters’ compulsory retirement savings scheme. There were strange alliances with the Young Nationals and the Business Roundtable working with the Council of Trade Unions to campaign against it. We succeeded, with 92% of voters voting no, on a massive 80% turnout.

I opposed it on the grounds that individuals are better placed to decide on how to save for their retirement, than the Government. For some, investing in a farm or business is their best course. For others, paying off a mortgage.

Yet today, I am excited by the decision of the National Party to make KiwiSaver compulsory, if it wins the next election. Why?

An interesting Substack article which has 10 rules from Roger Douglas for reform. They are:

1. For quality policies, you need quality people
2. Implement reform in quantum leaps, using large packages
3. Speed is essential. It is almost impossible to go too fast
4. Once you build the momentum, don’t let it stop rolling
5. Consistency + credibility = confidence
6. Let the dog see the rabbit
7. Never fall into the trap of selling the public short
8. Don’t blink. Public confidence rests on your composure
9. Incentives and choice versus monopoly — get the fundamentals right
10. When in doubt, ask yourself, “Why am I in politics?”

The Taxpayers’s Union has looked at what a change of government could cost NZ farmers. It isn’t pretty:

• Labour’s no rates cap – an extra $10k rates after three years
• Labour’s ute tax – $6,900 per ute
• Green’s wealth tax – $131k/year
• Green’s death tax – $2.07m
• TPM wealth tax – $150k/year

Imagine what food prices will be as farms become unprofitable with taxes greater than profits!

I recently went to an incredibly moving event where the family of Wladimir Riszko received his Righteous Among the Nation Medal. This honour is given exclusively to non Jews who risked their own lives in order to save Jews from the Holocaust.

Riszko was a Pole who hid not one, not two but 16 Jews in a bunker on his property. He would have lived every day for three years in terror of being found out. He would have been killed if they had been discovered. He didn’t hide them for money. He hid them for humanity. How he managed to feed 16 people for three years is also incredible, during a time of food rationing. Every day he would have been having to go out, and try to find food for them, risking death if the authorities worked out why.

He married one of the Jews, Renee. They moved to New Zealand. They had two children – George (deceased) and Eva. Eva spoke to us about how her mother was traumatised by her experience. She lived, but lost at least four of her siblings to the Holocaust. Her father had mentioned he saved some Jews, but rarely spoke of it. Some years ago their mother had written down what she could recall of the Jews who were hidden by Wladamir. It was a scrap of paper, that she didn’t know what to do with.

In 2021 Sara Bank-Wolf contacted the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand. Her father Dov was a child who was sheltered by Riszko, along with his parents. She did not know the name of their saviour, just that he had married one of the Jews and moved to New Zealand.

The Holocaust Centre initially said there was not enough info to go on, but by chance Dr. Ann Beaglehole, a volunteer, knew of Riszko’s story and the family. She contacted him and the children of Dov made contact with the children of Wladimir. They were then able to identify all 16 survivors, over time.

As Wladamir married Renee, their family were both descendants of the rescuer and the rescued.

We heard from Eva, from Sara (by video). Foreign Minister Winston Peters spoke, ACT MP Simon Court plus the Polish and Israeli Ambassadors, plus Deborah Hart from the NZ Holocaust Centre. The event was both incredibly sad and uplifting. Being reminded of the atrocities of the Holocaust, and how 99% of Jews in their local city were killed. But heart warming at the thought of this man, who became a New Zealander, who risked his own life continuously for three years, to save strangers from extermination. Many of have good intentions, but how many of us would do what Wladimir Riszko did?

He truly is one of Righteous of the Nations.