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March 7, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 07 March 2026

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General Debate

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Cassandra

The Telegraph has an interesting article on Netanyahu’s strategy:
1. Destroy Hamas
2. Ditto Hezbollah
3. Remove Iran’s nuclear capability
4. Bring America in.
5. Change Iran’s regime.

The first principle of war: Selection and maintenance of the aim. A lesson for us all. Contrast that with the chopping and changing from the UK, Europe and the US. A clear objective and then swift execution is the way to do this. Actually I think the US is getting there. Trump has, it seems, now developed an end point: unconditional surrender and a new leader of his choice. Now for the maintenance ie stick to that goal.

Or is the goal much more strategic? One commentator, Dr Robert Seely, says that the wider aim is to knock Iran out of contention (it’s China’s main oil supplier) to allow the US to concentrate on the Pacific and thus deter China from a Taiwan invasion.
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March 7, 2026 8:03am
- kowtow
  
  That may be Netanyahu’s strategy but in fairness the danger is Trump .US /Isr could have done this back in June ’25 with greater justification, but Trump wanted to be seen as the peacemaker /deal maker.
  
  Reports now that Russia is providing Iran with intel to target US facilities .
  
  While the US sees China as a threat , Trump must learn that Putin is also a threat. And be consistent /more forthcoming with aid to Ukraine.
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:19am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The BBC has interesting stories on the war from the perspective of China and of India.
  
  India’s economic links with the Middle East run deep: the region accounts for 17% of India’s exports, supplies 55% of its crude oil and generates 38% of its remittances.
  
  China’s global footprint, its investments and markets beyond the Middle East are also vulnerable to a protracted war. And like so many other countries, China too is wary of this fresh bout of unpredictability.
  
  “What is the game plan? Surely the Americans didn’t go into this with no game plan.”
  
  “Probably, along with everyone else, they would also be thinking, oh God, they really have gone into this with no plan at all. Right, we don’t want to get dragged into this like we don’t want to get dragged into anything else, but we also need to do something.”
  
  India: http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn71j8mlkk8o
  
  China: http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2044vzrdpzo
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:21am
  - Colville
    
    Read today that Panama, after USA pressure, kicked China out of the port facilities they had paid for in the canal.
    With the nuke subs going into Perth so they patrol the Indian Ocean, it’s all about China and the Shadow Fleet becoming fair game internationally.
    There is a lot going on.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:18am
    - Charlotte Wells
      
      China got the arsecard from Panama a long time ago, Before Venezueala.
      
      The US backyard (Southern) is now free from the possibility of China using it as a chokepoint against warships moving to the Pacific.
      
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      March 7, 2026 2:35pm
  - david in Aus
    
    Nevermind India and China, think about New Zealand. Where is NZ’s media!
    New Zealand has only 3 to 4 weeks of inventory of diesel and petrol.
    Half NZ’s petroleum supply comes from South Korea. When push comes to shove, Korea will likely prioritise the domestic market.
    Jet fuel is now>$200 per barrell in Singapore, reports of marine fuel oil shortages coming soon.
    If past is prologue, 1970’s stagflation will be revisited.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:18am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Exactly David.
      What is the Strategy now ? What steps are taken to secure Fuel ?
      Very little I’m afraid.
      This was foreseen at least 6 months ago and too be frank at least 3-4 years ago if anyone was listening.
      
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      March 7, 2026 11:25am
      - R
        
        3 – 4 years ago NZ didn’t have a competent government. Most social clubs in NZ, were better at managing events and finances, than the Ardern/Hipkins/Robertson troika were.
        
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        March 8, 2026 8:15am
    - david in Aus
      
      Reports of US ground troop preparation for Iran. That is doubling down. Wow, Trump is getting a bit desparate.
      If you want regime change- you will need ground troops. So there you are, no short-sharp war.
      
      It is going to be protracted.
      
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      March 7, 2026 11:42am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Another Iraq in the making.
        So how did that work out????
        
        And Iraq was simpel territory compared to Iran.
        Iraq had a central command and control system
        Unlike Iran.
        
        So who is this Iran that will give total surrender??
        I used to think Trump was a game changer for the US to breakup teh uniparty.
        
        But now he has a sniff ofpower he has lost the plot.
        Middle east States and the Pentagon advised against a full on Iran attack.
        
        Ignored by Trump in favour of warmonger Netenyahu.
        
        PS. Netenyahu has been pushing the Iran on verge of produceing Nuclear weapons for the last 20 years…….
        PPS. Its eems that a Billionare could buy a bomb making team for a billion USD and 5 years to have his/her own Nuclear toy. Does anyone really think that Iran couldnt have enough money, intelligence and time to build a bomb if it really wanted to.
        PPPS. Now they have a great incentive to really have a bomb. No restriction by teh Ayatollah stopping bomb making in favout of a make a bomb guy. Plus the ISraeli/Trump junta in continuing atttack mode
        
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        March 7, 2026 1:54pm
    - Quail
      
      And there is no Muldoon to deal with this oil crisis plus no Lange ( Douglas ) to deal with the resultant inflation.
      NZ can’t look back.
      We need a strong Reserve bank now ,to sustain the NZ currency , plus a rejuvenated productive sector to produce exports and real products .
      NZ needs this to be able to purchase the oil and oil products (that we are refusing to look for here.) plus other essential imports.
      Which political party is pushing this?
      Possibly ACT only.
      Where are the others?
      PS ,
      At the local fuel stop this morning was a number of boats plus SUV ‘s filling up tanks and cans.
      
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      March 7, 2026 11:45am
    - david in Aus
      
      If past is prologue. D Rumsfeld, the Iraq war is going to last 6 day, I doubt it will last 6 weeks….I know it won’t last 6 months.
      
      What does history tell us?
      
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      March 7, 2026 3:32pm
  - Burtland
    
    the BBCs reporting on this is heavily clouded by TDS – exactly the same as media here
    
    gaslighting rubbish dressed up as news
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:21am
    - Gussy
      
      True Burt. The contemporary BBC lacks the objective chops to provide serious analysis.
      
      I did read this article though. IMO it downplays the strategic alliance between China and Iran, e.g:
      
      “…in truth their relationship was transactional”
      “…it wasn’t a very deep relationship.
      
      No shit, Sherlock.
      
      In recording such statements (and through the rest of the article), the BBC greatly downplays the friction that China is causing (and will increasingly cause) the US and others, via Iran.
      
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      March 7, 2026 1:52pm
  - Paulus
    
    They never thought Trump would do what he says !
    
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    March 7, 2026 11:28am
- Simon
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Iran is badly beating up Israel & the US. Sad!
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:40am
  - CJames
    
    ???
    Which planet are you going back to?
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:28am
    - Simon
      
      Iran’s main military is located in the vast mountain ridges along its southern sea coast and into the west of Iran. Where it can launch endless attacks. Hard for US & Israel military to counter in the mountains. Instead restoring to hitting Tehran.
      
      Taken out key US military infrasture in the Gulf Arab states.
      
      The straights of Hormuz have been closed off to shipping. Hence increasing the price of oil, which harms wider economics.
      
      Iran has the backing of China.
      
      US doesnt have a plan. First kill the leadership for regime change via a Iran civil war. This hasnt worked. What next for the US?
      
      Iran has got this. US, Israel should declare a trace and back down. Unless something unexpected happens.
      
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      March 7, 2026 9:39am
      - Ra Henare
        
        And of course, Iran has been preparing for this war for decades!!!
        
        Now have Trump (now a warmonegr sadly) operating on gut feelings and ignoring real advice from Pentagon and gulf states.
        
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        March 7, 2026 1:57pm
    - R
      
      I don’t think that Simon is on our earth planet!
      
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      March 7, 2026 10:31am
      - Paulus
        
        Iran will run out of its armaments as they only have North Korea producing for them as well.
        Russia cannot help as they need all they can get.
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:29am
  - Ruahine
    
    Simon you may be correct.
    The Emirates 380 flight from Dubai has just flown into Auckland.
    So I guees that means that Trump has surrendered and the war is over.
    
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    March 7, 2026 12:07pm
- Rodney Hide
  
  Do you think there are two plays going on? Take out the mad mullahs and assert geopolitical dominance over china and Russia? There’s a lot at stake. It seems to me this could well be the most consequential event in my lifetime.
  
  Rodney Hide
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:50am
  - Philview
    
    The podcasts I have listened to line up with your thoughts Rodney that the US is squeezing China. China has been getting cut price oil but not any more. Hence the China stooges in New Zealand are coming out hard on this war.
    
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    March 7, 2026 8:56am
  - Gary Benner
    
    They say Trump is playing 4D chess and I tend to agree. Only time will tell.
    
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    March 7, 2026 8:58am
    - imalwaysright
      
      All chess is 4D.
      Multilevel chess.
      
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      March 7, 2026 9:08am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      Really? What examples are you able to offer up of Trump’s geopolitical strategic genius?
      
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      March 7, 2026 9:13am
      - kowtow
        
        Bibi.
        
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        March 7, 2026 9:31am
      - David Garrett
        
        Northshore: I concluded yesterday that he really does live in an alternative universe when he said that HE must play a part in selecting Iran’s next Supreme Leader. Even if he doesn’t actually believe it – and I think he might – that has to be his most ridiculous utterance ever.
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:38am
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        Panama and Venezuela. Vide my earlier comment.
        
        And access to Greenland.
        
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        March 7, 2026 2:40pm
      - Manu-Rau
        
        Just quickly…..
        
        Forcing NATO countries to increase their defence budgets, AND spending a sizeable chunk of those increases on US hardware.
        
        Forcing Denmark (and others) to commit to defending Greenland.
        
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        March 7, 2026 4:46pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      They being Trump can do “”no evil”” Disciples
      
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      March 7, 2026 2:05pm
  - Scott
    
    Agree with Rodney. Venezuela has gone apparently. They are now doing deals with Trump!
    Iran has nearly gone.
    Cuba is next.
    Trump is remaking the world. For the better! 😊
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:49am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Some fact checks would be nice
      Venezuala has not changed except that Trump has the oil!!!
      (and China doesnt)
      Ie why he took out Maduro
      
      Life for citizens remain the same
      Access to food, medicine, clean water, and healthcare stays limited
      Plus total uncertainty for the future
      
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      March 7, 2026 2:06pm
      - Scott
        
        No, America and Venezuela are resuming normal diplomatic relations. No longer an enemy. That’s good. And it will be good for the people of Venezuela. That I can tell you. 😎
        
        https://www.axios.com/2026/03/05/trump-us-venezuela-gold-deal
        
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        March 7, 2026 2:42pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    China is being sent a message about what the ability to project power really means.
    
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    March 7, 2026 12:57pm
- Eastlander
  
  Unless 5. is actually achieved the result we shall end up with a giant Yemen. Especially if the Russians and Chinese start taking a role in the conflict analogous to that of the Americans and Europeans in the Ukraine war – that is, siting Iranian military production in their own territory beyond reach of American air power.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:00am
- david in Aus
  
  I fear that this will backfire on them. This will lead to a rupture of the US body politic against Israel, if there is a world-wide recession. Which I think is likely. Mario Rubio has mentioned that Israel will be the scapegoat.
  
  As each day passes the probability of regime change becomes more remote. The calculus for Iran is to induce as much worldwide pain as possible leading to distancing of the Gulf States from the US. A strategic failure.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:10am
- MCōs
  
  Netanyahu was first PM in 1996
  Thus far in thirty years he’s achieved #4
  https://x.com/owenshroyer1776/status/2026811589391696344?s=61
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:16am
- Paulus
  
  Persia has been over thousands of years a leader in many aspects in the Middle East accepted in many things like top World Universities.
  The Ayotallah Autocracy has decimated what was once a great Country.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:23am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Good point Paulus, and lets not forget the innocent Iranian people. Clearly they don’t agree with the regime, otherwise it wouldn’t be a regime.
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:56am
  - Wandering Star
    
    I think that the 45 years of aggressive, hostile and punitive economic sanctions and near-constant campaign of low level conflict waged by the US at the insistent of the Israelis in an effort to “decimate” (to use your word) and destabiise Iran have had more to do with it than the “Ayotallah Autocracy” which gets the blame.
    
    Like in so many other cases re: the situation in the Middle East, only considering half the story and forgetting everything else that undermines the Official Narrative is crucial to prevent people having a much more nuanced (and thus clear and accurate) picture of what’s actually going on and why.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:23am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      I’m not sure WS, that you have any grasp of history. How you can write your last para following what you have written beggars belief. You seem not to know that Iran has (1) made it clear it wants the State of Israel vapourised, and Jews with it and (2) has been, either by itself, or via it’s proxies, attacking American interests and killing Americans since 1979. If they had done neither of these things, any action against them would not have been necessary.
      
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      March 7, 2026 10:50am
      - Wandering Star
        
        OK, we’ve heard all of this nonsense Jewish hysteria a thousand times.
        
        Fact is, the Judeo-Americans are currently bombing a sovereign state (again). Rights to sovereignty don’t depend on one’s attitude to the proposition “agrees with Judeo-American policy.”
        
        Sorry, but the cause of advancing Israel’s interests doesn’t justify Israel doing what it likes.
        
        If simply “we feel threatened” is Israel’s justification here, then, quite clearly, every other state surrounding Israel has an equal (and in fact better) justification for pre-emptively bombing Israel out of self-preservation.
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:34am
      - David Garrett
        
        In vino: Old WS thinks that only he has a full understanding of nuance – one of his favourite words – while the rest of us only understand “pop history”
        
        I am still waiting for his list of what historians – other than David Irving, who he obviously holds in high regard – that I should read so as to understand the nuances as well as he does.
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:44am
      - Wandering Star
        
        Which David Irving books have you read, David? You’re very dismissive of him, so you must be well acquainted with what he has written. Please don’t tell me that your opinion is just someone else’s.
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:49am
      - David Garrett
        
        WS: I have read a number of Irving’s books, and acknowledge that once – albeit many years ago, before he started to claim there were no exterminations camps – he was well regarded. As I’m sure you know, it was he who exposed the so called “Hitler diaries” as forgeries after respected historian Hugh Trevor-Roper had declared them genuine.
        
        I have read “The Mares nest” – excellent; and “Hitler’s War” very good – and “Churchill’s War” – which was complete rubbish, and contained numerous claims about Churchill’s conduct during the war which other historians debunked.
        
        Which of his books have you read? Do you agree with his claim that there were no extermination camps?
        
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        March 7, 2026 2:45pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        I’ve read Hitler’s War, Chrurchill’s War, Apocalypse 1945: The Destruction of Dresden, The War Path: Hitler’s Germany 1933-1939 and, while not a book in WW2, Uprising! One Nation’s Nightmare_Hungary 1956, and I’m currently reading Nuremberg: The Last Battle.
        
        Which claims by Irving about Churchill’s war conduct do you think have been “debunked” and by whom?
        
        Irving is known for his use of primary sources, rather than the practice of quoting secondary sources, which tends to re-enforce falsehoods where they exist. As to the question of extermination camps (obviously a very particular thing, far exceeding the concept of a network of “mere” concentration camps), Irving’s exhaustive research in the German archives (he is fluent in German) lead him to the conclusion that there was no evidence Hitler ordered the “mass extermination of Jews” nor do the archives indicate that there was ever such a systematic mass program. Irving accepts that isolated “non-systematic” atrocities took place, but then nobody disputes that. As far as I’m aware, nobody has ever examined the same archives and found anything to debunk Irving
        
        Rather than address this controversial claim head on – as you might expect in an historical debate among mature people – Irving was vilified, condemned and driven out of polite society in a coordinated fashion. His was a modern day heresy against the popular religion. Isn’t that a very odd and instructive way to react to a conclusion found in a book?
        
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        March 7, 2026 4:47pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        WS, for goodness sake WS, the intersect between reality and you is the empty set. Is it Jewish hysteria that has seen them attacked multiple times by proxies of Iran? Or are you denying that Hamas and Hezbollah (at the very least) are proxies for Iran? And when the rockets were raining down on Israel (multiple times), the Israelis had no right to believe they were being threatened? And worse, you don’t believe they were being threatened?
        And the list of American sites that have been attacked by Iranian proxies, and American citizens that have been killed by Iranian proxies is long. Very long. How long must a sovereign state wait before it is allowed to retaliate WS? In your humble opinion?
        
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        March 7, 2026 6:10pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    2500 years of culture has now been united under the common banner of War.
    What’s 50 years of a Rogue Ideology ?
    The longer this goes on, the huge risk to NZ Inc as we know it.
    
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    March 7, 2026 11:32am
- Wandering Star
  
  Why do you feel that the Judeo-Americans have any right to go around “destroying” various groups which displease them, and taking out the regimes of sovereign nations who oppose them? That seems to be an indictment against them, rather than those they target.
  
  If Putin and Xi went around doing the same things, we’d all be wringing our hands and clutching our pearls about it – so what’s the difference here?
  
  Sure, they’ll give us all the usual BS moralisations under the sun about why it is “right” and that they have some God-given duty to do this (but of course they’d say that), but ultimately it’s just realpolitik aimed at extending and protecting power. That’s all.
  
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  March 7, 2026 10:07am
  - Gussy
    
    Star – do you think that, if the current regime in Iran had suitable nuclear capability, they would not use it to strike Israel?
    
    It’s hard to read any nuance in their constant message that they want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, irrespective of any moral high ground.
    
    Moreover, equivalence with China, Russia, and North Korea is erroneous – their leaders being far less relaxed about dying for a glorious cause.
    
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    March 7, 2026 2:37pm
    - Wandering Star
      
      “Star – do you think that, if the current regime in Iran had suitable nuclear capability, they would not use it to strike Israel?”
      
      No, but it would prevent an attack by Israel.
      
      Arguments to the contrary rely on thin assumptions, and Israeli propaganda, that the Iranians are “hate-fueled” and “irrational” actors – it’s actually perfectly rational to want nukes as protection against a belligerent nation like Israel, given that nukes are the best deterrent.
      
      Naturally, the real reason Israel want a nuclear-free Iran is, not because they fear attack, but on the contrary, because Israel wants to topple Iran (as we can see with our own eyes), an impossible proposition if Iran had the only effective deterrent.
      
      I ask you: which nuclear-armed states, once so armed, have attacked another state? None (except, of course, the United States).
      
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      March 7, 2026 5:04pm
      - Gussy
        
        So Iran, given an effective ‘deterrent’, wouldn’t strike regardless of Israel’s actions ?
        
        Do the Mullahs love their children more than they fear mutually assured destruction?
        
        Notwithstanding Israeli ‘propaganda’, there’s little point in projecting our rational attitude onto a regime that so sanctifies death in the service of religion.
        
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        March 7, 2026 8:18pm
- pb
  
  You forgot one. Outlined by Jeffrey to Ariane on the Ukraine war: “Ukraine upheaval should provide many opportunities, many.”
  
  This is Operation Epstein Fury.
  
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  March 7, 2026 12:46pm
TripeWryter

Fuss and hand-wringing is being stirred up among those inclined to fuss and hand-wring self-righteously about the reported killing of schoolgirls in a Tehran school in the US-Israeli bombing.
I in no way wish to minimise or make light of the killing of children in the violence of war.
My comments are directed more at thems who try to make some some of capital out of the tragedy.
It’s just that the bearded Iranian men who have run the place for the last 47 years appear to have cared little for females – girls, women.
Which is why expat Iranians – women especially – are dancing in the streets at the possibility of some sort of liberation of their sisters back home.
I doubt that the US would deliberately bomb a school and kill children at their lessons.
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March 7, 2026 8:10am
- Notsofast
  
  Thomas Coughlan from the Herald stampedes straight to carpet bombing and more war crimes without the manners to show his workings:
  
  “Not only does he struggle to explain and comfort voters about the disappointing state of the economy, on Monday, he struggled to articulate New Zealand’s position on carpet bombing – an actual war crime.
  
  The position, for those in the back, is that we’re very much against it because of New Zealand’s longstanding opposition to war crimes. Most backbenchers know that, why doesn’t the Prime Minister?”
  
  Does he know something everyone else missed? Another truly disgraceful Herald hack.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:40am
  - Eastlander
    
    There hasn’t even been any ‘carpet bombing’ – that would entail massed formations of the larger aircraft (the B-1s and B-52s) flying directly above the target areas and dropping gravity bombs. I don’t think anything like that has been done since Vietnam, but journalists will insist on flinging around words they don’t understand purely for emotional blackmail.
    
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    March 7, 2026 11:15am
  - Paulus
    
    He has always been a desperate so called Writer – no brains either.
    
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    March 7, 2026 11:32am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Everyone’s heard of Persian carpets, right? It stands to reason that the bombing of Persia is the bombing of carpets, or carpet bombing for short.
    
    I assume that’s what Thomas was thinking.
    
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    March 7, 2026 1:01pm
- grumpy
  
  Reports are that the school was hit by a misfiring Iranian missile. We won’t know until investigators can get in to have a look but feels very much like the Hamas school and hospitals beat ups that were proved self inflicted.
  
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  March 7, 2026 10:09am
  - Wandering Star
    
    I notice a pattern here which is that every atrocity the Israelis carry out is always blamed on the victims, or those adjacent to the victims. Whether it’s claims of Hamas using human shields or of misfiring Iranian missiles killing Iranian school girls, the Israelis are the purest, most blameless, and most morally correct people to ever walk the earth.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:14am
    - imalwaysright
      
      It appears that Jewish history has been appropriated by some in the Israeli Government, and their backers, for the purpose of gaining power and money.
      
      The activists in NZ who portray themselves as Maori representatives use the same tactics.
      
      The Jewish people and the Maori people are being used.
      
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      March 7, 2026 11:33am
      - Wandering Star
        
        I don’t really see any distinction in principle between Jewish rhetoric and Maori rhetoric: perpetual victimhood; entitled to historical lands due to historical habitation; blaming others when things don’t go their way; deserving of special protections, respect and freedom from offence, and so on. Very general assumptions not professed by each group in its entirety, of course, but it’s the same model.
        
        The curious part is that you come on KB and the one cause is ridiculed, while the other enjoys mostly uncritical acceptance.
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:55am
      - imalwaysright
        
        It seems that some don’t like the comparison with Maori activism.
        
        What’s the difference?
        
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        March 8, 2026 9:28am
  - Ghost
    
    U.S. military investigators think American forces likely were responsible for a strike that killed dozens of children at a girls elementary school in Iran, a U.S. official said. The investigation hasn’t reached a final conclusion, the official said.
    
    Article
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:14am
  - kowtow
    
    Amazing how the western media are so concerned about that school.
    
    Yet have not been so vocal about 40 years of slaughter , domestic and int’l by the Mullahs and proxies.
    
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    March 7, 2026 11:01am
    - Wandering Star
      
      We hear this word “slaughter” rolled out frequently as a quite obvious propaganda term. “Killing” or “death” don’t really have the same connotations, and so are less effective in shaping public opinion. On the other hand, “slaughter” evoke abattoirs, entrails and so on. Whenever it pops up, I appreciate that I am being manipulated.
      
      But, if we’re going to use the term, I don’t think there’s any doubt that the level of “slaughter” done by Israel (but mostly by its primary proxy, the United States) across the Middle East far surpasses that of the Iranians – forever wars in Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and so on, with hundreds of thousands of casualties, perhaps into the millions. Where have the Iranians been so prolific?
      
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      March 7, 2026 1:58pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Latest reports say School likely hit by US atatck.
    The previous propoganda re Iranian missile I suspect put out by the PR folk at Israel/USA military
    
    https://ground.news/article/evidence-suggests-the-deadly-blast-at-an-iranian-school-was-likely-a-us-airstrike
    
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    March 7, 2026 2:19pm
  - Northshoredoc
    
    Whomever is responsible it is a dreadful crime.
    
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    March 7, 2026 2:42pm
- Wandering Star
  
  “…..at thems [sic] who try to make some some of capital out of the tragedy.”
  
  The Israelis would never take this approach, would they?
  
  Please. They’re still invoking things that happened 2 or 3,000 years ago to “make capital” out of and excuse their actions in 2026
  
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  March 7, 2026 10:11am
Chuck Bird

I heard Luxon tell HDPA yesterday that all National MPs have expressed support for him.

I do not believe him.

Thumps up if you agree with me.

Thumbs down if you do not.
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March 7, 2026 8:12am
- RoboRob
  
  They absolutely have told him that. The question is, are they? Clearly the leaker at least isn’t.
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:17am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I know one who does not support him.
    
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    March 7, 2026 8:27am
  - Paulus
    
    What make you think with our so called media that it was not a Labour MP who told him !
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:26am
    - RoboRob
      
      Simple. Curia, aka DPF, would not be giving Labour MPs a preview of an up coming poll. He would however give National a heads up so they can prepare a response. So yeah, a Nat leaked it (or DPF, which is highly unlikely). Probably a high ranking Nat.
      
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      March 7, 2026 12:01pm
      - Ghost
        
        Or taxpayers union leaked knowing it would get substantial media coverage. I don’t think DPF would betray a client and tell anyone in national, it’s his livelihood
        
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        March 7, 2026 12:05pm
      - RoboRob
        
        @Ghost
        
        Your absolutely right. My bad. It’s most likely someone in the TPU.
        
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        March 7, 2026 6:04pm
      - Dougal10
        
        If it is a taxpayers union poll and they let it out then it isn’t a leak.
        
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        March 7, 2026 6:50pm
- kowtow
  
  Now is not the time to join this left wing media campaign to unseat Luxon in election year and thereby install a far left coalition of chaos.
  
  Today Coughlin in Herald is really turning the screws , assisted by their execrable cartoonist Body .
  
  Is there a more toxic industry in New Zealand than the msm , who do all in their power to have far left influence and policies and control over our lives , the destruction of private property rights , and the general impoverishment of this once wealthy nation.
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:28am
  - Tomtoddy
    
    This is a not very clever leftwing MSM campaign to turn the voters off the Coalition and get their paymasters back in power. Follow the money.
    
    Disrupt. Exaggerate. Unsettle. Poison. All techniques in play right now including that turncoat Hooten and his mate who does piddling useless cartoons.
    
    The run up to this election is going to be remarkable for the campaigning done for the left by the MSN.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:13am
    - R
      
      for the left by Msm,……has it ever been any different in the last 8 decades?
      
      8 2
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      March 7, 2026 10:37am
  - grumpy
    
    The coalition of Luxon, Peters and Seymour is very strong and the Left need to break it to have any success. Their propaganda arm in RNZ and TVNZ together with the rest of the MSM are doing their best. All National MPs know the strategy, Luxon holds the middle and NZF and ACT take the more controversial issues.
    Everything is going to plan and the MSM shock troops are getting more and more desperate.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:14am
  - Dougal10
    
    The teachers unions are planning more strike action again to stir up more labour party publicity , does a big percentage of teachers union fees still end up in hipkin’s election budgets.
    
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    March 7, 2026 6:54pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      does a big percentage of teachers union fees still end up in hipkin’s election budgets
      
      I don’t know. Do you? I hesitate to ask because people tell me I should try to dig the info out for myself, but perhaps you could save me the trouble if you have already done the job?
      
      Surely you aren’t just making this up …..
      
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      March 7, 2026 8:51pm
- Damocles11
  
  I do believe it. By and large the National party MP’s seem to be interchangeable and a bunch of sycophantic party lackeys. Witness the complete submission to the partys Maorification and ‘climate financial idiocy’ agenda. A couple have demonstrated quite remarkable competence and ability, but the vast majority are milquetoast. The biggest issue is that the most out of touch and incompetent people are in the most senior roles, which was probably by design, but it has come back to bite. The ‘do nothing’ plan of allowing falling interest rates to boost house prices has been a case of ‘ asleep at the wheel’ and there is no Plan B. Likewise the John Key inspired strategy of cozying up to the media and waiting for the public to fall in love with Luxon has proved to be equally wrongheaded. It has all been so lazy and insipid, exactly the weak ‘we just aim to be better managers than Labour’ lack of drive and vision that many feared would drive the party onto the rocks. When you talk tough about introducing competition into the market and nothing happens, you look incompetent. Willis looks incompetent. Likewise, mealy-mouthed talk of ‘cutting wasteful spending’ looks ridiculous when spending and debt are both demonstrably increasing. If National can’t implement fixes when in government then the likelyhood is that a majority of voters will decide there is no point them being in government.
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:30am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    I wish you were wrong.
    
    14 3
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    March 7, 2026 9:34am
  - Ian Boag
    
    My head hurts. Can you boil that down into a few bullet points for an action plan?
    
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    March 7, 2026 8:52pm
- Sensible moderate views
  
  Press Gallery is in a feeding frenzy now. And there doesn’t seem to be anybody out there supporting Luxon.
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:36am
  - Paulus
    
    Yes, hear from Wellington that many were wetting themselves as nearly got what they wanted.
    Will be worse as they will n0t get what they want.
    
    16 2
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    March 7, 2026 9:27am
  - grumpy
    
    They are being played Nats, NZF and ACT
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:15am
- Simon
  
  National & Luxon is all about narrative. There is no plan or vision just endless narrative. Thats why a clique within National launched an attack on him v MSM and has harmed the narrative. There is another narrative out there about his leadership.
  
  National party though are utter rubbish. It doesnt matter who leads them
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:43am
- Ra Henare
  
  Words mean NOTHING. Actions are what counts.
  
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  March 7, 2026 2:20pm
- Charlotte Wells
  
  I was out for a bit of socialising last night.
  
  Luxon and the achievements of the goverment were discussed.
  
  One friend, a believer in Luxon, is disappointed in what he hasn’t achieved and his leadership.
  
  The consensus was that the have achieved a lot in the basic areas but have failed in making changes in the headline grabbing areas. To wit, maorification, wokeness, and the intractable government employees.
  
  His ambivilent performance is in sharp contrast to the big turnaround by the Trump administration and Luxon pales in comparison.
  
  These friends is preparing for a change of government and the policys that will ensue.
  
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  March 7, 2026 2:55pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Are these people really New Zealanders?

A mother appeals for NZ to retrieve the 5 and 6 year olds she left with their grandmother in Tehran late last year. She now describes the boys as “left behind”. Who does that?

Reading further into the story, it looks like it was an attempt to get the grandmother into NZ, as she was refused a visitor visa – presumably because of overstayer risk. Now, she’s trying to get visas for three family members to bring the boys to NZ. Something simpler, like the mother flying to, say, Amman & doing a handover there seems to be off the agenda. No, NZ needs to do something to fix her problem.

Underpinning the story is the feeling that these people are Iranians who happen to live in NZ. They still see themselves as Iranian, and we are just the mugs who enable it.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/360946991/they-are-really-scared-i-cant-sleep-mum-pleads-help-bring-kiwi-kids-home-tehran
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March 7, 2026 8:13am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Who send s their 5 and 6 year old kids to the other side of the world to live in a Theocracy like Iran??
  
  Is that to see the bodies being hung in public???
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:42am
- KiWombat
  
  If they were in fact “kiwi kids” then they would not need a visa, so this is deceptive reporting.
  
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  March 7, 2026 10:16am
  - grumpy
    
    “Deceptive reporting”! From Stuff? …..and you expected something different?
    But good spotting!
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:19am
  - Ghost
    
    Immigration call them NZ citizen children, the issue is getting a visa for the grandmother and two relatives to come back with them
    
    “We are actively working to reach an appropriate outcome to allow the two New Zealand citizen children to leave Iran. The safety of the children in this case is paramount, and we recognise that they need to have someone to travel with them, and we will work with the family and their adviser to achieve this.”
    
    The agency confirmed it had received visitor visa applications for the children’s grandmother and two other relatives who could accompany the boys out of Iran.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:27am
    - MCōs
      
      Personally I’m all for helping these people with visas or whatever they need.
      There’s people on this forum who on the one hand are outraged at the treatment the locals are subjected too in Iran, but on the quibble about giving them a hand to get over here to Godzone.
      
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      March 7, 2026 10:11pm
      - Ghost
        
        Yeah, but the majority on this blog do not represent nz, they are a dying breed trying to hold on to what they want the country to be. They represent just a tiny minority of this country, but don’t realise it
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:01pm
  - R
    
    Politicking MARXIST MSM
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:42am
- rouppe
  
  Turan Mohammad Safdari and Aayan Safdari, aged 6 and 5, are staying with relatives in Tehran
  
  They should have been back a month ago for school.
  
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  March 7, 2026 11:33am
Yvette

If Helen Clark was consistent, as well as criticize the Government for not making clear a position on what she sees as American illegality in striking Iran, should she not also condemn New Zealand media’s decision to try and change the leadership of the National Party?
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March 7, 2026 8:18am
- Taieri
  
  If Helen Clark was consistent
  ———–
  
  Clark is entitled to her opinions and to expressing them publicly. Just like every other New Zealander. Whether she’s “consistent” or not is neither here nor there.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:46am
  - Wandering Star
    
    Well said. A call for “consistency” is usually just a call for “agreeing with me.”
    
    Look at recent history: many of those who have condemned Putin running amok in Ukraine the loudest are the same people cheering on the Judeo-Americans currently running amok in Iran.
    
    What’s the difference? Only that they’ve been told to hate Russia and to venerate Israel, hence their own inconsistency towards similar instances of violations of national sovereignty.
    
    They don’t care about consistency, just shutting down those who disagree with them on this issue or that.
    
    Someone like Helen Clark would quickly cease being an “irrelevant has-been” if she came out in support of the attack on Iran. Then, she’d have achieved redemption for her past sins.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:59am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Helen Clark would quickly cease being an “irrelevant has-been”
      
      Called out by an anonymous KB “never was” ….
      
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      March 7, 2026 8:55pm
  - greybeard
    
    Helen Clark is lucky when she expresses her many opinions, as she gets to have them broadcast on radio , TV and the Press and to have them publicly applauded by her supporters.
    Other lesser mortals have to rely on outlets such as this one.
    
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    March 7, 2026 2:07pm
- Phronesis
  
  The left don’t have principles, only preferences.
  
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  March 7, 2026 10:56am
RoboRob

Heard HDPA discuss alternative national leaders. The sad thing is she described most of the top contenders as being able to fit in the Labour party. To her mind this was a bonus as they could attract left wing voters. I guess in the past that might have been a thing. All the Labour voter’s I know would never consider voting for National.

What it does show is what some here have been saying. National has moved towards the left, which makes sense if the key players are lefties.
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March 7, 2026 8:23am
- Damocles11
  
  The flakey middle of working families just vote for whoever will give them the most lollies. Casting a vote for National as ‘superior economic managers’ is a vote of desperation mixed with hope for many of those working couples with kids and a mortgage. When it appears that National can’t deliver the anticipated ‘good times’, they pivot back to the other mob – which is what is happening.
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:35am
- peterwn
  
  My take on the situation is:
  1. Superman is not available for party leadership. Todd Mueller showed this up.
  2. A change of leadership is most likely to be suicidal to National’s election chances. Admittedly Jacinda was the exception, but has any National MP got the gift of the gab that she has.
  3. Retaining leadership is not life or death for Chris Luxon. His main personal objective would be for National to win the election. If he considers that someone else could do better, he would most probably step down.
  4. If any National caucus member is disgruntled to the extent of ‘leaking’ he or she is effectively helping hand the left wing on a plate.
  5. As far as I can see Winston would retain the whip hand even if the results of that disastrous poll were fulfilled. And my assessment is he would far rather run with a centre coalition than a left wing coalition. I do not think he is interested in baubles any more except for a Kinghthood which he has earned through his long years of political service. Indeed a future left wing government may pull the plug on Knighthoods as Helen Clark did.
  
  I think the media is doing a disservice to NZ by not assessing the situation objectively rather than hoping that Chris Luxon is overthrown to generate ‘news’.
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:48am
  - Northshoredoc
    
    Winston not interested in baubles ……. Lol
    
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    March 7, 2026 8:53am
  - Boy Geoff
    
    You think the media is doing us a disservice?!?
    
    If our media had any balance at all, they would also be running analytical articles assessing what the coalescence of economic and social policy prescriptions of the incoming Labour/Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand/Te Pati Maori government will look like for the country.
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:03am
    - R
      
      Analytical articles are beyond the capabilities of most NZ MSM.
      
      7 1
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      March 7, 2026 10:47am
      - Boy Geoff
        
        No, would be journalists are apparently joining the profession now to ‘make a difference’!
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:24am
  - pdm
    
    pw I agree with most of what you have there – except Winston.
    
    I think 18 months as Prime Minister is a BAUBLE he wants (a must have even) and is perhaps a huge incentive for him to stay in politics.
    
    ACT (I am sure) will not agree to the Prime Minister position being shared, especially with Winston, so if he really wants that Big Bauble then he will have to go with Labour.
    
    Hipkins or no Hipkins it will be the Bauble that wins the day.
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:04am
    - Colville
      
      Pdm.
      With respect but I think you are wrong regarding ACT.
      IMHO Seymour will see the long term gain of keeping Labour out and if that takes Winston as PM then so be it.
      As long as ACT have a meaningful role in government this next term.
      It might be Seymours turn in 2029 to demand 18 months?
      
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      March 7, 2026 9:18am
      - MCōs
        
        If the country knew one or other main party would make Winston or Seymour PM that would be the end of their chances of winning the election.
        “Mister Chris would you consider offering the Premiership to the leader of a minor party to secure their support in coalition negotiations?”
        
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        March 7, 2026 9:46am
      - pdm
        
        Colville if it happens I think ACT might go to the Cross Benches giving Confidence and Supply and looking at other legislation on a case by case basis.
        
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        March 7, 2026 10:04am
      - peterwn
        
        PDM – if ACT chooses the cross benches, they won’t get any portfolios. And they may do themselves serious electoral damage. Also Winston is unlikely to want to be in a governing minority coalition.
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:22am
      - Jethrod
        
        Seymour talked crossbenches before the last election. It lost him 3 to 4 % of the total vote. Went from around 13% to 8.6% in a week.
        Talk about miss-speaking !!!!!!
        
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        March 7, 2026 11:34am
    - peterwn
      
      Yes, this is problematical. However Winston’s performance over the last two years has been pretty good. I think he wants to enjoy life and have fun.
      Even though Chris Luxon is no Jacinda when it comes to orator skills, his management and negotiating skills means that he successfully formed a coalition and held it together in the last few years. He would have given him (and David Seymour) the things they asked for but do not really matter in the big order of things.
      I doubt very much that either Chris would concede the prime minister-ship to Winston for even half a term. Anyway if this were to come to pass David Seymour or Chlöe Swarbrick would also expect to serve a stint as Prime Minister. This just ain’t going to happen.
      
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      March 7, 2026 9:20am
      - R
        
        Re Jacinda oratory vs PM Luxon, Luxon’s problem is that he doesn’t produce ‘word salads’; the only oratory that many of our MSM seem to comprehend
        
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        March 7, 2026 10:52am
      - MCōs
        
        One of Mr Luxon’s problems is he does produce ‘word salads’.
        Btw
        He’s not standing against Jacinda and never did.
        Under the leadership of Bill English the Nats polled somewhat better than Labour under Jacinda
        However
        The hapless Judith Collins was hammered at the next election.
        At the time the then government was judged at the polls on the perception of how well they handled a series of crises, but mainly the COVID pandemic.
        I would suggest the current government will be judged on how well they handle the looming fallout from the Iran war.
        
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        March 7, 2026 2:18pm
      - Dougal10
        
        In reality under mmp a long term acting pm is the same as a pm . Caucus is actually in charge , therefore Winston has already been PM while Cindy was on baaabbby leave, maybe he should do it again for 6 months to allow the nats to sort their shit out .
        
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        March 7, 2026 7:11pm
    - peterwn
      
      Winston has the opportunity of being PM many years ago but he fluffed it. He needed to be more patient and less impetuous. He was touted as a future Prime Minister but left the National Party in a huff. He would have entered the office of PM with enormous goodwill, and he would have got a knighthood and London/ Washington afterwards. What a wasted opportunity.
      
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      March 7, 2026 1:03pm
  - KKNZ2025
    
    The MSM are constantly promoting the anti Coalition narrative in as many obvious & surreptitious ways as possible, they’ll say anything to recover their self interest inside their Left/Labour comfort zone.
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:06am
    - AitchW
      
      The media have been running stories on Luxon’s leadership virtually since the election. It’s the “big lie” principle.
      Eventually some of the less capable National MPs will start to believe the lie and get twitchy.
      What, one wonders, has Hipkins promised the msm if elected?
      God help us….
      
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      March 7, 2026 9:42am
  - Paulus
    
    Agreed, the so called media have been doing all it can to destroy New Zealand, and make it a Maori led Caliphate called Aotearoa.
    
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    March 7, 2026 11:37am
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    “Jacinda was the exception, but has any National MP got the gift of the gab that she has.”
    
    It wasn’t, and isn’t, the gift of the gab.
    
    Adern was a youth-adjacent, socialist, female who had the adoring females of the MSM propagandisng for her incessently. Without them she would have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
    
    Even so, she was only anointed as the chosen one by a vindictive Peters.
    
    Without his support her uselessness was exposed to the point that the MSM couldn’t hide it and she cut and ran like a coward.
    
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    March 7, 2026 3:02pm
- Eastlander
  
  Even the red voters I know who hate Ardern (all of them) still wouldn’t vote National. Contemptibly stupid as it is to revile Ardern while accepting her right-hand man, these are the compatriots we are cursed to have.
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:56am
- imalwaysright
  
  Imagine the ’29 election if Labour and National form a coalition.
  Would we become a single party state?
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:01am
  - Damocles11
    
    A grand coalition implementing Maorification, co-governance, borrow and spend, high immigration, and presiding over New Zealands ongoing decline.
    Yay?
    
    8 1
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    March 7, 2026 9:56am
    - Wandering Star
      
      That’s what we get when they aren’t in coalition, so they may as well get together officially. The reason they don’t is because then we couldn’t pretend there’re genuine alternatives. It doesn’t seem to matter which is in government, such are the similarities.
      
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      March 7, 2026 1:30pm
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        Every so often you say something that is grounded in reality.
        
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        March 7, 2026 3:04pm
  - Wandering Star
    
    We already are in everything but name, as is the rest of the rest of the liberal democratic world. Our shared “free and democratic” system is really oligarchy by money power (perhaps kleptocracy) given a justificatory fig leaf they call “democracy.” Any rival system that is not under this broad umbrella is an “autocracy” or a “tyranny” (e.g. Russia, Iran, China et al). Those terms really just denote independence of our system of control, or largely so.
    
    For any ruling elite, consistency and predictability is key, which is what our system ensures and is why there’s barely any discernable difference when the main parties switch chairs every few years 1) to avoid having to take real responsibility for anything (it’s always the fault of the “previous administration” no matter what issue is) and 2) so that people feel as if they have a legitimate role in the system (“we voted the buggers out!”).
    
    Meanwhile, it’s always business as usual, and if any genuine challenger to the cozy power-sharing arrangement comes along, they all turn on and repudiate that challenger (“threat to democracy” and so on).
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:34am
- grumpy
  
  Part of the plan. The only place Ex Nat voters will go in NZF or ACT.
  Hence why the MSM are trying to destroy Luxon. He can pick up more Labour votes than Hipkins can off National.
  MSM are desperate.
  
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  March 7, 2026 10:20am
- Dougal10
  
  National has the same problem as the libs in australia , they are trying to out centre left labor , but get out maneuvered each step of the way because the centre left is fast moving to extreme left which is still in the honeymoon phase of handing out other peoples money.
  
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  March 7, 2026 7:04pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Here’s a classic tale of political lunacy running smack into scientific reality.

Marlborough DC has rules about water clarity that the pesky Awatere River simply refuses to meet. Must be those adjacent farmers, polluting the river – right?

Wrong! Turns out that greywacke in the catchment causes the turbidity and there’s “little” (I would say nothing) that the Council can do about it.

Time for a policy rethink, Councillors!

http://www.1news.co.nz/2026/03/06/blame-gondwana-100-million-year-old-rocks-cloud-marlborough-river/
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March 7, 2026 8:35am
Maggy Wassilieff

The Greens are against making English an official language of NZ

Swarbrick, however, has now said that not calling for a party vote on Tuesday to officially record the Greens’ 15 votes against was a “mistake”.

This is excellent news for Peters, who will no doubt be thrilled to find the Greens are the mugs who are willing to ensure his bill stays in the spotlight in the months ahead.

https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2026/03/06/making-english-official-is-a-sly-winner/#more-47285
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March 7, 2026 8:38am
- Simon
  
  The third world stalks NZ throughout.
  
  9 1
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  March 7, 2026 8:45am
- greybeard
  
  That is a great article by Graham Adams, clearly demonstrating the excellence of the English language !
  
  10 1
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  March 7, 2026 8:47am
  - peterwn
    
    The English language for all its faults and issues has stood the test of time and has become a de facto international language.
    
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    March 7, 2026 11:27am
    - Paulus
      
      All school children in main China learn English at school.
      We were at a wedding in Shanghai a few years ago are were stopped in the street by school age children and ask to speak English to them.
      We had a great half hour of smiles and giggles in English.
      
      6 2
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      March 7, 2026 11:41am
    - greybeard
      
      From Google:
      “The top, indispensable languages for international diplomacy are the six official United Nations languages:
      English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. These languages dominate international, intergovernmental, and strategic affairs, with English and French acting as the primary working languages of the UN Secretariat.”
      
      Years ago a new “international language” called Esperanto was created, to solve the multi-language problem, but it faded away. My mother bought a set of LP records in order to learn it but never really applied herself. From memory it was very close to Spanish in sound and spelling.
      
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      March 7, 2026 11:56am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  Winston has found his “5% issue”.
  That’s enough to get him back in the trough. Any more than that is gravy.
  
  11 0
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  March 7, 2026 8:52am
  - Colville
    
    NZF will do closer to 15% than 5% this time around I think.
    
    7 4
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    March 7, 2026 9:20am
  - peterwn
    
    ???? It is a foregone conclusion (to use a journalistic cliche) that Winston and his party will be back in the House after the election. And Chris Luxon would be fairly happy with this too, he has shown that he can work successfully with minor party leaders. Negotiating with Winston would be easier than negotiating with Air NZ or OMO unions.
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:26am
- Swifty
  
  Another excellent example of the rule that if the Greens and Labour are against something then it’s bound to be a good idea.
  
  And if they’re REALLY STRONGLY against something, it’s bound to be a great idea.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:19am
- MCōs
  
  It’ll be forgotten about, particularly if the war in the ME goes on for any length of time and inflation takes off.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:50am
Chuck Bird

National should move right and support Peters call for a referendum on the racist Maori seats.
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March 7, 2026 8:39am
- Yvette
  
  Is the corollary true? – that National does support the Maori Seats?
  It is time “journalists” stopped asking when will Luxon step down, but instead ask him when will he step up?
  
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  March 7, 2026 8:55am
  - pdm
    
    Excellent last sentence Yvette.
    
    It is well past time for Luxon to `man up’ and stand for something – especially in respect of Maorification.
    
    To date all we have is his Waitangi Day Speech in 2025 where he said (8 times I thnk) that The Treaty is a Partnership.
    
    PM Luxon – it is not and never was intended to be.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:10am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Maybe Luxon’s job was to play for time while the Maorification political movement accelerated, and embedded itself in our core services and in our collective psyche.
      
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      March 7, 2026 10:46am
  - grumpy
    
    Why would he, that would take votes from NZF and ACT.
    
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    March 7, 2026 10:25am
- Poppax8
  
  I agree with you Chuck. It does not even require a referendum. A simple majority vote in parliament would do the trick under emergency next session. But why not make it election policy for 1 or more of the coalition partners.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:21am
  - peterwn
    
    No. As far as I know the Maori seats is one of the ‘entrenched’ provisions of electoral law and would require a 75% majority to abolish them. Even if the Government somehow lifts the entrenchment and purports to abolish the seats, the Supreme Court would almost certainly strike this down.
    
    4 3
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    March 7, 2026 11:33am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Nope, the Maori seats are not entrenched – and even if they were, a simple majority in the House can lift the entrenchment.
      
      4 2
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      March 7, 2026 1:11pm
    - pdm
      
      No pw – apparently not entrenched.
      
      I am taking Brooke van Velden’s word on that and she is not prone to mistakes.
      
      4 3
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      March 7, 2026 1:22pm
    - kowtow
      
      If parlaiment established them by simple majority , I’d think the reverse would also apply.
      
      The SC can opine all it likes but the people are supreme and sovereign as expressed through parliament , not the SC.
      
      2 2
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      March 7, 2026 3:56pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  National should buddy up with the party who has policies most aligned with theirs: Labour.
  
  Labour and National would be the most stable coalition.
  
  I wouldn’t vote for them, but that doesn’t mean it would not make sense.
  
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  March 7, 2026 9:23am
  - imalwaysright
    
    If they both maintained their voter base then voting for anyone else would be pointless.
    
    1 2
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    March 7, 2026 9:30am
  - Damocles11
    
    A stable coalition presiding over New Zealands continuing economic and social decline. People don’t mind being delivered to the abattoir providing it is done gradually and in a stable manner. We must not scare the horses, allow people to keep their delusions.
    But at least you’d keep ‘scary’ fringe parties like ACT – preaching ‘extremist’ messages about smaller government and equal rights for all citizens – out of power.
    
    3 2
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    March 7, 2026 10:02am
    - Paulus
      
      I like the Coalition we currently have !
      
      7 3
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      March 7, 2026 11:43am
  - Wandering Star
    
    If Labour and National ever formed a coalition, then what is implicit would be made explicit: there’s no real conflict in such an arrangement because there’s no really substantive difference between National and Labour, except perhaps as to 5% of mostly irrelevancies to maintain the illusion of difference.
    
    On the core tenets of “liberal democracy” they are basically inseparable. This is why I practically never engage in “National v Labour” debates, because they seem so pointless, even if the faux conflict makes people feel as if they are actually debating real difference.
    
    For those observers who still haven’t figured this out, a Grand Coalition seems incongruous, but it isn’t, because we already have one in practice.
    
    3 7
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    March 7, 2026 10:49am
    - Quail
      
      Oh come on. Both National and Labour are served ( guided ) by the same bureaucracy and advisors that has run NZ since the advent of MMP.
      The politicians only do as they are told.
      So the outcomes are horribly similar!
      And the politicians are less and less relevant.
      Vote?
      Why bother??
      
      2 4
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      March 7, 2026 12:47pm
- Damocles11
  
  Not sure Potaka would allow this.
  
  2 2
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  March 7, 2026 9:56am
- pb
  
  US supreme court ruled illegal and racist, affirmative actions in student selection in 2023: Students vs Harvard. Upturning bonkers interpretation of the Civil Rights Act 1964.
  
  Taking the leg-up or the handout brings the recipient into disrepute. Its poisonous. Toxic empathy. The good will reject it in time.
  
  4 1
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  March 7, 2026 2:42pm
- MCōs
  
  National won’t support a referendum on Maori seats because it would be more trouble than what it’s worth
  On the practical side if there were no Maori seats the votes would go to Labour and TPM would probably have no seat. An extra 3% could be added to Labour’s tally or maybe Greens. Certainly not any of the others. That’s four seats.
  At present there are two overhang seats because TPM won so many electoral seats. That won’t happen again due to their internal disarray.
  Apart from that attempting to away the Maori seats will cause likely cause civil chaos
  
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  March 7, 2026 2:53pm
Simon

Media beatup via a National party clique.
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March 7, 2026 8:46am
greybeard

My son sent me this, commenting that it was so relevant at present.

https://youtu.be/GQxX1M2fSOs?si=LzWwQAkzhJzSaUgY
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March 7, 2026 8:50am
TripeWryter

The once-royal New Zealand Herald has a story about the Royal New Zealand Navy’s tanker being out of action for five months.
It’s written by the masthead’s purported defence correspondent, David Fisher.
Who should know that it’s HMNZS Aotearoa and not ‘THE’ HMNZS Aotearoa.
Anyway. That aside.
I looked for WHEN the ship was docked for so long because for the last 18 months or so she’d been up in the Pacific feeding not only RNZN ships but also HMAS and HMCS vessels.
For the Australians, she was their ship because they didn’t have a supply ship available.
You have to read way down into the story, buried under the ads, when we find that on her way to Singapore in late 2022, HMNZS Aotearoa’s crew thought they could tank-wash, which meant in the end they could not take on new fuel for other ships.
Three years ago. That vital ‘When’ of the story was buried deep.
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March 7, 2026 8:52am
- kowtow
  
  That’s actually the big front page story in the print edition.
  
  Extraordinary that the navy itself has done more damage to its own ships in the last couple of years than any enemy action could have ( forgive my rhetorical flourish)
  
  On a serious note . The military needs to start taking training personnel for real world operations ( cleaning tanks/ auto pilots) than it does over fostering its image as some sort of “ti tiriti o waitangi’ entity dedicated to all things bi cultural and maoriness.
  
  Perhaps it could then keep HM’s vessels afloat or operational.
  
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  March 7, 2026 11:07am
Sparrow

What is it about Luxon? Put my two penny worth in. We don’t know him, we don’t know what he believes in. Frankly he is totally colourless. You might not agree with previous PMs, but a Labour supporter could enjoy a beer with John Key, even a true blue could have a huge argument with empathetic Jacinda(maybe). I have a small circle of friends mostly Nat supporters and without exception they all think Luxon is a wet blanket totally out of his league an abysmal communicator and outshone by his coalition partners. Should he be dumped? I doubt there are any volunteers at 28%.
6 6
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March 7, 2026 11:02am
- greybeard
  
  I think a lot of people form opinions about Luxon because they read and hear other people criticising him and join the club.
  All most of us know about Luxon is what we see and hear on the media: we have never seen him in the flesh or met him or spoken with him. It is mostly hearsay.
  Give him ( and us ) a break.
  
  12 5
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  March 7, 2026 11:21am
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    Give him a break from being prime minister
    ‘ Nothing I like” in the treaty principles bill Luxon.
    He’s representing Maori activists not the core National voter.
    
    8 1
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    March 7, 2026 2:50pm
    - Albie
      
      Not to forget poor old Maureen Pugh being publicly admonished and sent off to re-education camp for having the temerity to question the climate cult National are still openly supporting.
      
      7 1
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      March 7, 2026 3:18pm
  - Quail
    
    GB
    No , the major concern with Luxon was and is his failure to support his Coalition partners manifestos.
    As a bare minimum National should have supported a referendum on the ACT treaty bill.
    Something that would have meant no responsibility for National , but could have sorted the separatist approach that is still happening.
    And importantly it would have reflected what the majority of NZ voters wanted.
    (Keys flag referendum was of far less importance.)
    It is Luxon’s responsibility that this did not happen.
    It is Luxon who needs to give NZ voters a break!
    
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    March 7, 2026 9:04pm
    - Ghost
      
      No. They did what was agreed to in the coalition agreement, and that was to see it through to the first reading, that was what act also agreed to.
      
      Oh so you speak for the majority of nz voters, now. Only one party went to the election with this plan for a referendum, they only got 8.64% of the vote, not a majority huh. Labour, greens party and Māori party supporters wouldn’t support it, national supporters some would some wouldn’t support it, so where does your majority come from? Just another kiwiblogger making shit up.
      
      No, it’s acts responsibility this didn’t happen, they agreed to only take it to the first vote. A government couldn’t be formed without act, if they believed in this then it would be a bottom line, it wasn’t.
      
      If only people could be honest instead of making things up, majority, yeah, pull the next one
      
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      March 7, 2026 9:11pm
      - Quail
        
        Ghost.
        The point is politicians should consider and represent the will of the electorate, not necessarily their own personal view.
        And the only way to get that at all accurately on this matter would have been to have a referendum .
        And that was suggested!
        As Key did with the flag!
        But that apparently was not acceptable to Mr Luxon!
        
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        March 7, 2026 9:52pm
      - Ghost
        
        And they did exactly what the public voted for, but you don’t like that do you, nor can yo7 accept it so you rewrite history and make up bullshit. National and nz first did not campaign on a referendum, in fact national said in the campaign they did not support it. Just over 8% of the votes went to a party that wanted a referendum.
        
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        March 7, 2026 10:55pm
BananaLlama

So you had one bad poll out of a bunch of good ones. One News had the coalition on 65 seats last month. Don’t lose your nerve just yet.
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March 7, 2026 11:37am
Jethrod

Have just read the NZ HERALD section 1.
10 pages of Harvey Norman plus another 5 pages of combined ads. This out of a total of 30 pages.
This is why the Herald needs a left government, so they can get supported.
6 1
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March 7, 2026 11:40am
- BananaLlama
  
  They should allow open comments to drive engagement but are far too prudish to do something sensible like that.
  
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  March 7, 2026 11:47am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  This fella Harvey Norman – is he in Parliament? Only, he gets loads of publicity. I’d vote for him.
  
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  March 7, 2026 1:14pm
  - MCōs
    
    He’s the Australian brother of Norman Gunston
    
    4 0
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    March 7, 2026 2:30pm
Swifty

All I’ve got to say about the Iran conflict is that war is wrong!

https://x.com/rothmus/status/2030026802794463684?s=46

I hope that’s clear.
4 7
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March 7, 2026 1:05pm
- Wandering Star
  
  I appreciate that you’re aiming at people who are against the attacks on Iran which you support, the premise being that they are inconsistent and conflicted.
  
  The thing is, it works just as well the other way too. A major (although quite clearly fallacious) pretext for the latest Judeo-American attack on Iran is violence against the Iranian people by Iranians. Yet somehow we are expected to believe that even worse violence against the same Iranians but instead done by Israelis and Americans is the appropriate response to the former?
  
  Because they aren’t stupid, we know they’re lying. I hope that’s clear.
  
  3 9
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  March 7, 2026 2:12pm
wrightingright

Joseph Lister must be rolling in his grave right now:
https://www.reddit.com/r/universityofauckland/comments/1rmvhzd/wtreng100/
” in public health we are trained in karakia because maori staff will not accept our tools at sterilisation services if they have not been blessed and cleansed of tapu”
“it seems useless but we just couldn’t get our tools sterilised if we didn’t know”

Apparently this nonsense is what is going on right now in our “universities” and in our public health sector.

What the hell does this have to do with medicine and science?!

If we’re going to make karakia (Maori prayers) compulsory, then why not just make Christian/Jewish/Islamic/Buddhist/Hindu/etc prayers compulsory as well? After all there are twice as many followers of Hinduism as of the Maori religion.
15 2
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March 7, 2026 3:15pm
karlsonder

Hello, all. I am not aware of David Irving claiming there were “no extermination” camps. I do know he has asserted Auschwitz was operated as a labor camp. On the other hand, I did tour with him in 2015 the Operation Reinhard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Reinhard) extermination camps in Poland. He made no assertion these places were anything other than death camps.
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March 8, 2026 5:29am

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