Stuff reports:

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the US decision to impose new 12.5% tariffs on New Zealand products is “extremely disappointing” and will drive up costs for businesses.

US President Donald Trump earlier announced he was going ahead with new double-digit tariffs on dozens of US trading partners just as the clock runs out on stopgap levies he imposed after a stinging defeat at the US Supreme Court.

The new taxes – of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 countries – account for 99% of US imports. The Trump administration accuses the 60 countries of inadequately enforcing bans on goods produced by forced labour, following an investigation by the US government.

New Zealand is on the list, and faces a rate of 12.5% for the new tariffs – although it appears beef and kiwifruit, two of our big exports, are excluded. Dairy and wine – another of our two big exports – do not appear to be excluded, however.

These tariffs will also probably be struck down as unlawful. They are not based on any objective or rational evidence. But in the interim it just dries up prices for US consumers and reduces income for NZ exporters.

Stuff reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins wasn’t happy when new ACT Party candidate Paul Henry said he’d need to “shoot” Hipkins, during a game of “shoot, shag, marry”.

His other options were Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and NZ First leader Winston Peters, who, given the options, he’d “shag”.

Hipkins said Henry wasn’t a serious candidate.

“New Zealanders expect leaders who take their responsibilities seriously, not treat politics like a circus audition,” he said. …

A few years ago, Hipkins answered a very similar question – as did a leader from every political party.

The Project played a slightly more toned down version of the same game with the leaders of every political party ahead of the 2023 election. They asked: “Kiss, marry, kick?”

With the options of David Seymour, Luxon and Rawiri Waititi.

“Kick David Seymour, that’s really a no brainer,” Hipkins said.

The hypocrisy is almost laughable. A yet to be ranked ACT candidate plays the game and Hipkins calls it a death threat and that Henry is now a serious candidate.

Yet Hipkins himself played almost exactly the same game as the incumbent Prime Minister!

As many readers will know 78 year-old Ann Widdecombe was (allegedly) murdered by a 28 year old. The murder is extremely disturbing, but so has been the Police statements on it.

• The allowed her management team to announce her death, with no reference to the fact it was a homicide
• They then said there was “nothing to suggest” the attack on her was politically motivated or terrorism.
• Even after they arrested the alleged killer, they still said “there is nothing to suggest Widdecombe’s death was politically motivated”

The 28 year old, Joshua Kerry, entered her house, hit her 21 times in the head with a hammer, then tipped her from her chair and stole her wallet. It was a brutal attack, which she would have no way to resist. This was captured on her security camera.

He drive 300 miles to kill her. He is or was a regular on Reddit and there is no doubt he hated Reform and Nigel Farage. Where are all the articles decrying the far left extremism?

What makes this even more chilling is she wasn’t a current MP, or even a candidate. All political violence is loathsome, but those standing for office are slightly more aware of the risks and can take some steps to protect themselves. She was killed simply because of the party she supported. She would never ever have imagined someone would drive 300 miles to murder her for her views. She would have no access to private or public security.

Audrey Young writes:

The other reason that National has reason to be disgusted at New Zealand First this week is because it is reinventing history in terms of its role in the ban on new oil and gas exploration in 2018.

Peters, in a press conference after his conference speech announcing $1 billion would be used to map New Zealand resources, said that neither he nor Shane Jones had been consulted over the ban. The proof of that, he said, were the pictures that showed Shane Jones with his hand covering his face when then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced it in New Plymouth.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The announcement, on April 12, 2018, was in Wellington. Shane Jones put his hand to his face at the very end during an innocuous comment by Ardern.

What’s more, Jones said he backed the PM 100%, that no one should have been blindsided by the announcement and that his leader, Winston Peters, had been leading the negotiations with Labour over the package. …

There is no doubt that New Zealand First did not embrace Labour and the Greens’ ban on new oil and gas exploration. And for about a month it negotiated to mitigate the effects of it on employment in Taranaki.

There is no doubt that it now bitterly regrets its involvement and that it happened.

The Greens had campaigned on it, Labour had not. The ban was not part of the coalition agreement New Zealand First signed with Labour. It came four months into their term of Government.

But New Zealand First was involved. The reality is that it did not veto the move, when it had the power to do so.

It was not blindsided by it. It is trying to rewrite history.

The ban was not in the NZF coalition agreement with Labour. They could have simply refused to back it, and there would not have been the votes for it. But they decided to back it. That is a fact.

The Herald reports:

A Labour MP is accusing Act’s Paul Henry of making a “death threat” against leader Chris Hipkins in a radio game, but the former broadcaster says there was no “violent rhetoric” and it was “plainly humour”. 

Hipkins told the Herald: “With political leaders around the world actually being shot and killed, Paul Henry should know better”.

“New Zealanders expect leaders who take their responsibilities seriously, not treat politics like a circus audition.”

But Henry said he was “completely dumbfounded by their reaction”.

The new Act candidate was on Radio Hauraki this morning and asked to play a “quick game of shoot, shag, marry”.

It’s a variation of a parlour game in which participants are asked to choose between three people, in this instance, one to shoot, one to shag and one to marry.

The options given to Henry were Labour leader Chris Hipkins, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and Prime Minister and National leader Christopher Luxon. 

“You’ve got to shoot Hipkins, haven’t you?” Henry said. “There is no question … You’ve got to shoot Hipkins. You’ve given me three choices, to be fair.”

Hipkins looks like a humourless pillock when he labels this a death threat. It does a disservice to those who get real death threats.

I suspect the vast majority of NZers have played shag marry kill, often with famous people. Hell, I’ve been at a party where people (most in attendance were female) played it, going through each parliamentary caucus.

One can certainly have a view that MPs and candidates should avoid playing the game on radio and television broadcasts. Australian PM Anthony Albanese got into trouble saying his choice for date, shag, marry would be Kylie Minogue for all three. It’s not compulsory to take part.

But to label Paul Henry’s comments as a death threat, as Ayesha Verall has is hysterical nonsense. It has been noted on X that a Green Party candidate has said far far far worse, and the media have basically ignored him.

The Herald reports:

Stuart Nash has confirmed he has resigned as a New Zealand First candidate, after backlash over his comments had become “a significant distraction”.

It comes after Nash accused National’s Napier MP Katie Nimon of being “lazy” for taking maternity leave. Nash is a former Labour MP and minister and has a string of controversies to his name.

Best comment comes from Ben Thomas:

This is the latest data. Regular attendance dropped 16 percentage points or 25% from 2017 to 2023. A disaster. Since 2023 it has increased 17 percentage points or 37%. In real terms there are 157,000 more students now regularly attending school.

For Māori students regular attendance dropped 17 percentage points or 34% from 2017 to 2023. What do you think that will do to equity!. Since 2023 it has increased 16 percentage points or 47%. In real terms there are 15,000 more Māori students now regularly attending school.

This is the proportion of students absent for more than 12 weeks a year – so all but dropped out. It peaked at 14% under Labour, and even worse was at 24% for Māori students. Labour will die in a ditch over co-governance of water, but allowed 1 in 4 Māori students to drop out of school.

There are 39,000 fewer students chronically absent in June 2026 than in June 2023. Again a great achievement.

Of course still a long way to go, but the trend is very very clear.

Readers should click on the tweet above and read it in full. Basically he makes the following points:

• Our current global population of 8+ billion people is only alive because of a supply chain infrastructure built up over the last 60 years
• The sulfuric acid that extracts phosphate (for fertilizer) from phosphate rock ores, for example, comes from pulling excess sulfur out of “sour” crude oil, we’re facing a loss of the infrastructure that keeps 8+ billion people alive on this planet.
• If you lose 25% of the global supply of these critical substances, you will sooner or later lose 25% of the global population: 2 billion people. The Persian Gulf, by the way, supplies roughly about one-third of the world’s fertilizer that traded in the global marketplace.

So the author is saying that an accidental byproduct of the Iran War could be a loss of fertiliser, which is critical to keeping 8 billion people alive.

What I want readers to focus on, is that it is official Green Party policy in NZ to ban this very same fertiliser. What is a potential disastrous byproduct of the war in Iran, is official Green Party policy.

What makes this worse is that this nihilistic lunatic policy has actually been tried in Sri Lanka. It saw:

• A 50% to 60% reduction in some crops harvest
• A 29% of tea crops – their major income earner
• A 7% reduction in overall national income
• A 20% income reduction for farmers

The Herald reports:

Officials warned the Government that its move to put the English name before the Māori name in its official branding could cause “material harm” to the Crown-Māori relationship.

The branding was officially updated in May, putting “New Zealand Government” before “Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa”.

Advice on the change, presented to Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith by Public Service Commission officials, said it would be “likely to be perceived as de-prioritising te reo Māori and diminishing the Crown’s active protection and partnership obligations”.

Officials claimed it could cause “material harm to the Crown-Māori relationship”.

What a load of bollocks. This is the woke virus that has infested much of the public service. They say that putting the language used by 99% of NZers ahead of the language used by 3% of NZers will cause material harm.

Stuff reports:

A former political figure involved in a late night bar incident can now be named.

Jack Brazil, a former Green Party candidate and high profile activist, appeared for sentencing before community magistrate Sarah Steele in the Dunedin District Court on Friday afternoon.

Brazil, 33, was originally charged with assault, behaving disorderly and escaping police custody following an incident at a central city Dunedin bar on Friday, November 27, according to court documents.

Our Jack has done more than merely assaulting someone and escaping police custody.

His lawyer, Sarah Saunderson-Warner confirmed he was no longer seeking name suppression, but opposed in court media applications.

She noted Brazil’s volunteer work, and his wider work in the community.

Despite not working, he “was not opposed to community work”.

Of course he doesn’t have a job!

Brazil, a former Green Party candidate and high profile New Zealand activist, was shot in the liver on Littlebourne Rd, near Otago Boys’ High School, in the early hours of April 16, in 2023.

That investigation remains open, with police believing the shooting was an “isolated incident”.

There is a story there waiting to come out.

He left New Zealand in the months after the shooting, and was charged with the burglary of a Footlocker store in central Dublin during riots in the city.

The Greens really do pick therm well!

Stats NZ reports:

New Zealand’s consumers price index (CPI) increased 4.1 percent in the 12 months to the June 2026 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.

The largest upwards contributor to the annual inflation rate was petrol, up 27.5 percent.

“Higher petrol prices accounted for almost a quarter of the 4.1 percent annual increase,” prices and deflators spokesperson Nicola Growden said.

If petrol and diesel prices had not changed, the CPI would have risen 2.9 percent in the 12 months to the June 2026 quarter.

So while it doesn’t make things easier for consumers, good to know it would have been under 3% without the Iran war.

It is clear – from school feedback and an Auditor General’s report that the current school lunch programme is beset with issues.

Societally it is controversial as our history in this area has been parents providing the lunch box. On a Friday, when I was at primary school, you could order fish’n’chips and you could get plate sized potato fritters for 5 cents (still addicted). I was completely fired up when I returned home one day, as a boy called Ronald had beaten me up and stolen my lunch. I was around 8 years old. I wanted him sent to prison for life (or worse). My mother’s response was to make two lunches the next day.

In terms of the high performing countries on international data – NZ is an outlier (along with Australia) for not providing high quality school lunches.

Almost every European country offers school lunch programs. Finland, Sweden, Croatia and Estonia provide universal, free daily meals to all students. Most other nations rely on mixed systems where the government subsidizes meals, charges income-adjusted fees, or partners with local authorities to offer catered lunches. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland and Romania provide targeted meals at a range of levels and eligibility.

Outside of Europe. Singapore operates widespread school canteens and offers meal subsidies for students from lower-income families.

Canada is rolling out a National School Food Program. The government has agreements with all provinces and territories to expand local school meal and snack initiatives.

Japan has a highly structured, nationwide school lunch program that operates in over 99% of public elementary and junior high schools, serving freshly made, nutritionally balanced meals designed by licensed nutritionists.

China has a large-scale school lunch system, highlighted by the nationwide Nutrition Improvement Program. It provides free or highly subsidized, nutritionally balanced lunches to over 37 million students, particularly in deprived rural areas.

Taiwan has a widespread school lunch program, but it is decentralized. Each city and county operates its own school lunch administration, determining subsidies, menus, and whether lunches are free for students.

South Korea has a highly regarded universal free school lunch program that provides daily, freshly prepared, nutritious meals to over 5 million elementary, middle, and high school students.

Particularly on Finland – where the effects of the lunch programme have been deeply researched:

“The school meals system plays an essential role in Finland’s educational system. Equal access to education and free-of-charge school meals has been one of the key factors in supporting economic growth and transforming Finland into a knowledge based society. Initially, school meals were introduced to address post-war poverty and malnutrition. For more than 75 years, Finland has been offering school meals for all students – the longest-running free-of-charge school feeding programme in the world which is funded with the government and municipal taxes. The funds for operating costs are disbursed directly to the education providers.”

“A school meal is considered as part of the national core curriculum, providing the pupils not only with a free of charge, balanced meal every school day, but also with food-related knowledge and skills. School meals play a key role in food education in school and the promotion of the well-being of the whole school community. The objective of food education in school is to master healthy and sustainable everyday food choices, the diversity of food alternatives and their significance, and to aim at food competence.”

The effects in Europe:

– Reduced Absenteeism: Studies from the UK and broader Europe show that free school meals—particularly universal programs—significantly reduce absences. This is heavily attributed to both financial savings for struggling families and improved health-related immunity and nutrition.

– Academic & Long-term Benefits: Long-standing programs, such as those in Sweden, have demonstrated measurable impacts, including increased years of schooling and a higher likelihood of students pursuing university education.

As I have said before. If we are going to have a school lunch programme, and I think we should, we have to do it well. NZ needs to be pulling every possible leaver to improve the education provision for all children.

[email protected]

Paul Goldsmith announced:

A re-elected National Government will modernise sexual consent laws to specify there must always be a “yes,” rather than an absence of a “no,” National’s Justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

“National is focused on fixing the basics in law and order, and modernising our consent laws is an important part of that.

“Unlike other jurisdictions we normally compare ourselves with, New Zealand law does not define what consent is. Rather, the Crimes Act provides a non-exhaustive list of what consent is not.

“If re-elected, National will change the law to specify that consent must be actively given, meaning there must be a ‘yes’ rather than the absence of a ‘no.’ That ‘yes’ can be communicated by words or actions.

“The change would align the law with what we’ve been telling our kids for a long time: that you need positive consent before sex, each and every time, rather than presuming it.

“That means silence is not consent. A person who doesn’t say no has not said yes. And consent given once is not consent forever. A previous relationship, or a previous encounter, does not change that.

“This isn’t only about the courts, where explaining what consent is, not just what it isn’t, helps judges and juries. It also resets social expectations, so that sex is understood as something both people actively choose.

“Importantly, these changes will not shift the burden of proof in sexual cases. The prosecution will still need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that consent wasn’t given, and that the defendant didn’t believe on reasonable grounds that it was.

Having clearer consent laws is a good thing, and the importance of proof beyond reasonable doubt is noted.

Also important is that this does not say consent must be oral. It can be communicated by action.

I would want to see the actual proposed law change before being categorical about whether the benefits of this, outweigh the risks, such as making false allegations more likely to result in a conviction. Graeme Edgeler on X made the point that the law shouldn’t be written in a way where both parties who take part in sex can in theory be guilty of rape.

The principle is good, and any bill should be supported to select committee. Beyond that, would depend on the wording of the law change, and especially how it compares to other countries, and what their experiences have been.

Stuff reports:

ACT leader David Seymour is pondering introducing a ban on children having their own smartphones.

The National Party is trying to ban kids from social media, but its coalition partners – including ACT – have indicated they won’t support that move. Instead, Seymour is now suggesting a different ban to solve the issue.

In a somewhat surprising turn for the ACT leader, which Seymour noted during a speech on Wednesday evening, he suggested a ban on children having smartphones.

“Parliament could pass a law defining what constitutes a ‘dumb phone’ suitable for a person under 16. Prohibit the purchase, possession, and supply of smartphones for under-16s,” Seymour suggested, during a speech to youth development charity, the Graeme Dingle Foundation.

He stressed this idea was not ACT Party, or Government, policy. “To be clear, I don’t even know if the Government trying to ban smartphones for under-16s is a good idea,” he said.

Keeping under 16s off social media is a good aspiration. The social media ban is challenging though, as to be effective it would require every adult to use photo ID to register with social media.

The alternative of simply banning smartphones for under 16s is worth considering. However social media can also be accessed on tablets and computers, so they are not a substitute for each other.

A depressing poll from Pew.

This is the sad legacy of Trump. More people in the UK, Australia and Canada have a favourable view of China than the US.

Peggy Burrows is the Principal of Haeata Community Campus. I have covered previously her claiming they received mouldy food from their school lunch provider. An independent report concluded it was actually a school error.

I have also covered the horrendous data for her school, which includes a 38% drop in the school roll, a suspension rate 900% higher than average and a 9% UE pass rate.

The Press has also covered many other issues she has been involved in.

Anyway she has just complained on LinkedIn:

Having held 4 Ministerial appointments prior to 2018 I wondered why the opportunities to serve my community are no longer open to me.

An incredible sense of entitlement. Ministerial appointments are a privilege, not a right.

But she answered her own question by asking AI!!

asked Chatgbt this question:

“Using all available information on the internet can you please find out if the New Zealand government would exclude Dr Peggy Burrows from ministerial appointments after Rigorous Due Diligence Vetting.”

The answer left me feeling stunned!

She asked ChatGPT a question, and she is stunned by the answer! Does she think ChatGPT actually decides on ministerial appointments!

By Lucy Rogers

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/723620/david-seymour-suggests-smartphones-could-be-banned-for-under-16s

David Seymour is seriously mooting to ban smartphones for under 16s. So much for Act being small government libertarians.

I do not have much to say that has not been said elsewhere: in my view, banning smartphones for kids should be up to parents, who can also limit screen time. However, I shall only add that this ban in addition to being state overreach is unenforceable.

The annual report of the Assisted Dying Registrar is here. Some key aspects:

• There were 1,289 applications – a 13% increase
• 486 people, or 38% had an assisted death. These were all people dying within six months, who got to choose a peaceful pain free death on their terms.
• 3% of applicants changed their mind and withdrew their applications. It is good that people can do so, and do so if they are at all unsure.
• 306 people died while going through the process, or 24%. This suggests that either the process needs to be quicker, or that the due to die within six months should be extended to say 12 months so that they have a better chance of getting the death they prefer
• 80% of assisted deaths were aged over 65. 80% were also in palliative care.
• 86% of applications were found to be eligible. This shows that applications are not rubber stamped, but often rejected as ineligible. The system works.
• 17 applications were halted as the applicant had lost competence – again a key protection