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April 17, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 17 April 2026

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Cassandra

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles: “Australia faces its most complex and threatening strategic circumstances since the end of World War II. International norms that once constrained the use of force and military coercion continue to erode. More countries are engaged in conflict today than at any time since the end of World War II”.

“The Albanese government is pursuing every avenue of increasing defence capability”.

The Oz Labor Government aims to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2033.

In contrast NZ’s National Government currently spends about 1.2% and has made no announcement about how it will increase that. The Labour Party has made no announcements about anything.

But the Nats are in good company. According to a recent poll 52 per cent of UK residents aged 75 and over identify defence and foreign affairs as a top-tier concern for the country but in the 18-24 bracket just 6 per cent take the same view.

And that’s our problem too. There is no appetite for increasing defence expenditure in NZ, apart from ACT. Helen Clark’s “incredibly benign environment “ lives on, supported by Don Brash, even when it doesn’t.
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April 17, 2026 8:03am
- Wandering Star
  
  “According to a recent poll 52 per cent of UK residents aged 75 and over identify defence and foreign affairs as a top-tier concern for the country but in the 18-24 bracket just 6 per cent take the same view.”
  
  Like in New Zealand, UK residents over a certain age are obviously deluded about where the threats lie. The older generations tend to live in a fantasy world where Russia, perhaps China, are somehow seen as threats to the nation.
  
  The youth, however, live on planet earth where the threats are actually not external military threats but are internal and reside in the oligarchs and/or the managerial classes who tend to be the ones pointing outward to distract from what they themselves are up to.
  
  I’ve asked you many times every time you shill for increased military spending what the substantive threats are, but you’ve yet to elaborate beyond vague speculation.
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:38am
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    Incredibly naive attitude, something about not learning the lessons of history and being doomed to repeat springs to mind.
    Soft western soy boys and girls don’t realize the sacrifices their freedoms are based on.
    I think it’s pathetic.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:21am
    - Wandering Star
      
      That’s the sort of meaningless nonsense that lead to many hundreds of thousands of young men losing there lives in two European civil wars in the 20th century. I think with hindsight, the huge sacrifices were largely in vain given how far Europe has fallen since the so-called “enemies of freedom” were defeated in 1918 and 1945.
      
      I think that young people recognising this through their daily experience is why they aren’t interested in being fooled like their forebears were, who were really the “naive” (though well meaning) ones.
      
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      April 17, 2026 10:11am
    - Don Beckett
      
      The thing is, the older generations remember the wars in the 20th. century – I was born during WWII & remember the hardships we endured right through the 40’s & 50’s.
      No-one was prepared for war back then. Human nature being what it is, & the signs around the world having been obvious for the past 2 or 3 decades, so we need to ensure we are prepared for wars – that is the only deterrent to would be conquerors.
      
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      April 17, 2026 10:36am
      - kowtow
        
        Exactly.
        
        Si vis pacem parabellum.
        
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        April 17, 2026 11:18am
      - Wandering Star
        
        I keep asking but nobody’s given me an answer: which “would be conquerors” are we talking about here? If we class ourselves as falling under the umbrella of the US Empire and its jusifying ideology they call “liberal democracy,” as the world’s ideological and military hegemon more or less for the last 80 years, then we are the conquerors.
        
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        April 17, 2026 1:53pm
      - Bevan
        
        I keep asking but nobody’s given me an answer: which “would be conquerors” are we talking about here?
        
        If your argument is we should wait for someone to declare they wish to attack us as the trigger to begin improving our defence forces, then we would be way too late.
        
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        April 17, 2026 2:21pm
  - rouppe
    
    The youth, however, live on planet earth where the threats are actually not external military threats but are internal and reside in the oligarchs and/or the managerial classes who tend to be the ones pointing outward to distract from what they themselves are up to.
    
    I’ll agree insofar as there are significant internal threats. I’ll even see some value that it’s “the managerial classes”.
    
    But in today’s world, the managerial classes are left wing, woke, Marxists who are doing more to create the conditions for a collapse of democracy than anyone else.
    
    They’re the ones demanding we declare our pronouns. That we sing waiata every morning. That divert attention and resources away from building things towards everyone being on a benefit. That want criminals on the streets, and bugger the rest of society. That overlook reality and refuse to make the compromises – opposing hydro initiatives anyone? – in order to push the electric dream.
    
    That youth might believe they live on planet earth, but their heads are still up in the clouds. Or in each other’s arses, take your pick.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:42am
    - kowtow
      
      Funnily enough those “internal threats” are fomented by the external enemy .
      
      Leftism , seeking to divide our society via the new front of “identity politics” and climate catastrophism can be chucked in there too.
      
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      April 17, 2026 11:20am
      - Wandering Star
        
        Who do you think the “external enemy” is fomenting the internal threat of Leftism? I’ve told you all again and again about the origins of subversive leftist ideas (always to much denial), and it ain’t Russia or China (which I presume is what you are inferring, although without evidence).
        
        Leftism is as fundamentally spiritually alien to China or Russia as it is to the Western European and Anglo worlds, it’s just that the same ideological virus historically took more aggressive hold for a time in those places.
        
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        April 17, 2026 2:05pm
    - sungsamning
      
      Yes, who’d want to put their lives on the line for that lot?
      
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      April 17, 2026 3:56pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    By recent events. Ie Venezuala, Iran.
    The substantive threat is Donald J Trumps Regime.
    /sarc
    
    Russia and China substantive threats are usually based on PR from NATO and the USA.
    
    A reminder. Western defence forces need a “threat”” to stay in business!!!
    
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    April 17, 2026 12:06pm
- Damocles11
  
  Typical New Zealand.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:02am
- Master Mariner
  
  I Had a look at the breakdown on spending ( 1.2 %) and less than impressed.
  Upgrading 2 x 757, Antarctic support ( ie supporting the Climate apocalyst’s “scientific evidence” and Diplomatic missions).
  The rest of the list of spending is less than ideal as well.
  So we go from 1.2 to 2 % in a few years ( 2030), The real question is what is NZ Defence Strategy going forward.
  Extra spending ( Currently) will more than likely go on more DEI / ESG Balls ups.
  With the breakdown of UNCLOS ( Freedom of Navigation), Shoring up / Securing supply chains should be “front and centre”.
  
  And,”18-24 bracket just 6 per cent take the same view.” Well the Root Cause is the Education system, Namely History and the “New Found Indigenous Science” that takes precedence over facts.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:06am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    The IRD are calling for a CGT an increased GST and increased income tax. My message to them is.
    1. Collect the taxes that remain uncollected.
    2. Reduce the compliance cost on taxpayers.
    3. Reduce the cost of collecting and processing taxes.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:23am
    - Hard Cheese
      
      The IRD need to pull their head in. How many times are we seeing the same story, some business goes into liquidation owing the IRD hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars because they were using GST or some other unpaid tax to prop up their cashflow. Collect the taxes that aren’t being collected.
      
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      April 17, 2026 9:47am
    - Ian Boag
      
      How about some numbers as a supplement to general rants?
      
      Start with what is the size of gummint income and what is needed to get into surplus plus retire significant debt. AFAIK current government spend is about $170bn – income is about $150bn, so how much needs to be trimmed? “Number of billlions” not just “lots”. Then tell us some specifics about something that could be “trimmed” and save a billion or two – not including the pension of course. Tell us how many billions might come from each of the particular cuts you favour.
      
      If it helps, any bot will give you the above numbers and identify the big spend areas. I won’t bore people with a full-scale cut/paste.
      
      As an indicator that you are serious, perhaps you could come up with one cut that might save a couple of billion of the 20 we currently face. Explain how you got there.
      
      The current gap is about $20 billion – 20,000 million. $20m here and there is just a rounding error. FWIW IRD costs about $750m to run. Cutting 50% off that would not really dent the overall sums.
      
      It is of course just easier to rant …. 🙂
      
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      April 17, 2026 9:57am
      - Taieri
        
        Cutting 50% off that would not really dent the overall sums
        ———–
        
        You are right as usual Ian. The only meaningful cut we can make is the old age pension.
        Everything else we don’t need to worry about and just keep spending on. After all what’s 300 or 400M saving? Just a rounding error, isn’t it?.
        
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        April 17, 2026 10:59am
      - wsk12345
        
        Let’s start with gummint departments. ChatGPT estimates total cost of employment at MBIE to be $220 k per person pa or about $1.4 billion all up. Let’s save 20% of that by getting rid of waste of time singing, DEI hires etc, that’s a straight saving of about $280 m. Extrapolate across all govt departments, even excluding the front line staff and we are well into the billions. And that’s before accounting for all the savings from not having these policy people impose dumb red tape on kids and their businesses …. it’s a no brainer.
        
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        April 17, 2026 11:06am
      - KH
        
        Get rid of 80% office based staff in Central and Local government.
        
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        April 17, 2026 11:20am
      - virtualmark
        
        The simplest thing the Government could do to move towards a balanced budget is to means test superannuation.
        
        It’s the largest single expense line in the Government’s budget. It’s paid from current income … there’s no nest egg of money the boomers wisely put away to provide for their retirement. Gen X, Y and Z following along behind the boomers are realistic enough to know we won’t get the same largesse. We just have to pay for the boomers’ largesse.
        
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        April 17, 2026 2:02pm
      - virtualmark
        
        The next simplest thing would be to channel Derek Quigley and have a ruthless quango hunt.
        
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        April 17, 2026 2:03pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @Taeri
        
        $300-400m is more than a rounding error. Well worth pursuing I guess.
        
        60 of these $300m intiatives would pretty much deal to our $20bn deficit. Gives you some idea of the problem faced by (either) gummint. Aside from the need to throw a few billlion each year at enhancing defence capability …
        
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        April 17, 2026 2:17pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @wks
        
        As I mentioned above – if you could find 60 of these examples (MBIE is the largest dept AFAIK) we would deal with the $20bn deficit. We would have to find a few more on top of that to do any debt repayment. S0 how many govt departments (naming them would be good) could realise significant savings of (how much?) on the road to $20bn?
        
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        April 17, 2026 2:21pm
      - KKNZ2025
        
        Cutting 50% of the public servants would save $3B pa – & revert it’s size closer to what it was before Labour increased it 40% by stacking it with culturally aligned acolytes in 2017-2023 who made no significant improvement to public services.
        
        Luxon promised at the election to deal with this, crickets…
        
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        April 17, 2026 5:25pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @wks
        
        I can’t make your sums work. If pubserv at end of Nat times was 100 and Lab grew it 40% that’s 140 and if we cut that by 50% we would be at 70 which is 30% less than what Nat left behind ….
        
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        April 17, 2026 6:24pm
      - KKNZ2025
        
        Ian, 70 is closer to 100 than 140 is to 100.
        Did you really think we had too few public servants in 2017?
        
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        April 17, 2026 7:14pm
    - KH
      
      iRD. Collect tax from the foreign Internet companies. eg Meta. All of them.
      Say 30% on turnover.
      
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      April 17, 2026 11:23am
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        Are they going to stick around and pay that?
        
        Nope, they will block access from all NZ addresses.
        
        Result, zero tax and a population of very annoyed people.
        
        The opposite of win/win.
        
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        April 17, 2026 4:48pm
- Wairoa Native
  
  I agree. New Zealand relies heavily on Australia and the United States when it comes to defence. We have our own forces, but for serious capability we’re relying on others to step in. In a more ‘uncertain world’, that’s not ideal. We should be investing more in our own defence so we are not so reliant. Also, it’s not just about security because the armed forces offer a way for young Kiwis to get skills, discipline, training, and even a career if they stick it out. So increasing defence spending isn’t just a cost.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:15am
  - SGA
    
    @Wairoa Native – “We should be investing more in our own defence so we are not so reliant.”
    
    We can’t really invest enough such that we wouldn’t be highly reliant. God still marches on the side of the big battalions, and modern warfare has become increasingly tech expensive. We would not be competitive against any significant military force.
    
    No, I’m not anti-military. Like you said, it’s good training for a lot of young NZers but there’s more to it than that. I see the NZ combined defence force as having a role that’s a mishmash of regular forces (enough to engage with alliances), Coast Guard (economic zone, customs and border protection, search and rescue), disaster relief (not just in NZ, but throughout the Pacific), and “showing the flag” on the world stage in things like UN peacekeeping missions.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:02am
  - Master Mariner
    
    Yep, Compulsery MilitaryService would be a good start. Get rid of Higher Education Courses as much use as Underwater Basket Weaving.
    Leave school, No benefit till your over 18 or 2 years etc.
    But in all honesty, Learning the Haka for Drone warfare is not really going to go well.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:50am
    - Ian Boag
      
      You must have some idea on what these non-uni people could do? I’m not hearing that tradies are crying out for apprentices …. Maccas are pretty all fixed for burger flippers ….
      
      Interestingly the Economist this week raises some questions about dud degrees and debt overload in the UK. Like here, they prod people into university …..
      
      Thoughts?
      
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      April 17, 2026 6:42pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Restaurant, nail, vape and bottle store & petrol station workers, for starters. Throw in courier drivers and fruit pickers.
        
        All lowish intelligence, low or no qualifications jobs that we have plenty of.
        
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        April 17, 2026 7:45pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Courier drivers have to buy a van. Fruit picking is seasonal. Petrol stations and liquor stores don’t seem to be short of counter folk.
        
        Vape workers – must be thousands of vacancies there. Can you give us something non-casual?
        
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        April 17, 2026 8:04pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    There are of course countries with zero or very limited Defence forces. eg Panama, Mauritus
    
    As has been ably demonstrated in recent years an old fashioned army, navy, airforce have been relegated to History. So looking at history for guidance for the future is a futile venture IMHO.
    
    I read that Ukraine just took terrirory from Russia in a TOTAL drone attack by air and ground. No troops.
    
    Iran has ably demonstrated that it can fight the largest Military in the world with some smart thinking/weapons.
    
    I have always considered(after serving RNZAF 12 years here and overseas) that is more of a token (feeder force for ????) than a deterrent to some mythical invader.
    
    The most effective use I found for the RNZAF was helicopeters for search & rescue, and P3/P8 aircraft for Smuggler detection.
    
    The Army/Navy have a great role for supporting Civil defence for natural disasters (evacuation, supply)
    
    As someone much smarter than me has said . War is the result of failed political actions.
    
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    April 17, 2026 12:25pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  …but in the 18-24 bracket just 6 per cent take the same view.
  
  Oh it’s worse than that, a 2025 poll of Gen-Z Brits revealed that only 11% of them would fight for Britain.
  
  And why would they:
  
  This is a problem for Starmer and the British liberals who have yet again found their war drums that were put away following the disastrous follies in Iraq and Afghanistan. What was once the Labour heartlands, the de-industrialized parts of the country, have also been the typical recruiting fields for the British Soldier – the white working class. These communities have been badly let down by all politicians have become deeply resentful and detached from what is happening within the politics, media and chattering classes of London.
  …
  his brand of Labour – middle-class metropolitan liberals – will never offer up their own children for military service and will look north towards the very people they have spent the nine years since the Brexit referendum accusing of being racists, bigots, and xenophobes.
  
  And that is a quote from one Dr Lisa McKenzie, a British anarchist and academic who grew up in a coal-mining town in Nottinghamshire and was politicised by the 1984 miners’ strike.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:31am
  - sungsamning
    
    Why would any Gen Z person enlist to defend against a foreign army? The UK, and EC establishments have already admitted millions of potential enemies armed only with passports. Or posing as ‘asylum seekers’. Not a shot fired.
    
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    April 17, 2026 4:03pm
- imalwaysright
  
  If NZ spent 3% of GDP on Defence what would it achieve?
  
  That’s $12 to $15 Billion every single year for what?
  
  One missile from a Chinese frigate 200km over the horizon and NZ capitulates anyway, better to put the money into building a country worth invading…
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:08am
  - Fender
    
    exactly and who would staff or use the new defense toys? people are not interested in signing up, can you imagine how many frustrated able good staff were on the NZ submarine, probably knew their boss was an idiot but have to just grin and bear it, would you sign up to work under someone like that because I wouldn’t.
    
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    April 17, 2026 8:53pm
- virtualmark
  
  Bit unfair to say we will not increase that – this Government announced last year it was aiming to increase Vote Defence to 2% of GDP by 2032.
  
  Personally I think it should be 3% of GDP by then, not 2%. But 2% is better than where were at the last general election.
  
  That said, I am sure that if Labour + Greens get in in November that Vote Defence commitment will get binned.
  
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  April 17, 2026 2:05pm
All_on_Red

I hope National dont try to change leaders. Frankly I don’t see the point as nothing will change anyway.
One of my work colleagues spent seven years as an Advisor to John Key and I asked him what the problem was.
He said they are too woke. The whole lot of them.
They lack the conviction and the courage to make the necessary changes to our Country.
A new leader wont do that.
Also everytime the Nats get in the Media start chipping away and undermining whoever is the Leader. So succumbing to that pressure is just dumb.
What they probably should do is get Nikola Donnatelli in to Cabinet for an hour and listen to him!
They wont of course. Which is a shame- for all of us.
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April 17, 2026 8:07am
- crackle
  
  Would be a fuck up of epic proportions that would no doubt send more voters to Winston who’s already in an upswing and possibly give him a reason to pull support from the govt similar to 1998.
  It also hands him on a plate an excuse to walk back from his not working with Hipkins comments, if votes fall in a way where a Labour NZ1st coalition would have enough votes and he would lead as PM.
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:29am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Newsflash. In the last Talbot Mills poll Labour/NZF have enough to form a majority government.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:27am
  - Gary Benner
    
    My fear is that National and Labour are so close now they will form a grand coalition and rid themselves of their respective “pesky” partners.
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:32am
- Damocles11
  
  National is a party now so totally neutered and in thrall to banking and corporate vested interests that it has become a timid hollow husk of a party, terrified of taking a stand on anything and moreover, driving forward with Maorification, co-governance, and ‘Paris’ climate madness which will cost us tens of billions of dollars. Spineless and weak! Under Luxon, National is a co-accomplice in maintaining everything the last Labour government implemented, a smiling buffoon giving the thumbs up to their entire agenda. State media – TVNZ and RNZ – paid for with our taxes, run rings around Luxon while he grins haplessly. We need to be rid of this bloodless corporate blancmange. We need a strong leader that can articulate a clear alternative to the current woke Labour Lite shambles. Love him or loathe him, Winston represents strong leadership in the minds of many people. He speaks plainly, doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and is capable of taking it to the opposition. This is the reason he is doing well. People don’t want weak leadership any longer in these troubled times.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:03am
  - Fender
    
    To be fair he did state he loved working with Jacinda right from the get go
    The signs were always there , luxon hasn’t changed substantially he could easily have stood on the left and has basically admitted that
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:28am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Winston is a con artist, not a strong leader. He stands for himself. The only people who will get what they hoped for from NZF are their donors. Certainly not their voters.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:32am
    - Damocles11
      
      He may very well be a ‘con artist’, but he has the attributes I described. At the end of the day the polls are telling a different story to your opinion as to what is seen as strong leadership.
      
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      April 17, 2026 11:17am
      - R
        
        ‘end of the day polls….’ are telling you how effective the MEDIA and activists have been at indoctrinating the public in MARXIST theory.
        One has to be blind and deaf, not to recognize the politicking by NZ media sources.
        
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        April 17, 2026 1:21pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    No worries – your ideas are so compelling that no sensible person could disagree and people will endorse them in droves … or not 🙂
    
    Bloody democracy ….
    
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    April 17, 2026 6:46pm
- Gravelroad
  
  If National dispenses with Mr Luxon as their leader, who would they pick to replace him that would be more capable and electable?
  Chris Bishop not suitable according to Mike Hosking on newstalkzb this morning. He described Mr Bishop as “from the Hutt” – which I thought was a disparagement applied solely to Chris Hipkins.
  Then he went on about how general elections are won in Auckland and they won’t vote for Bishop because he has no idea about the housing market there.
  Also, his appearance leaves something to be desired. Doesn’t brush his hair apparently – and generally untidy.
  Not sure about the relevance of that.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:07am
  - RoboRob
    
    Bishop has a much more friendly personality than Luxon but he is just as slippery on actually answering questions. According to HDPA Bish is also on the far left of National and would fit in nicely in Labour. I think Hosking is right that his appearance isn’t good and doesn’t help, as sad is that may be.
    
    I think Willis is out, she has the appearance and is much better in interviews but she is too closely associated with Luxon and has failed in her portfolio.
    
    I love Stanford in education. She has the looks and also interviews well BUT she has lost her rag occasionally which might be a problem as PM. It would also be sad to lose her from her portfolio.
    
    Whoever takes over will have to face the fact they will lose seats in the election and might themselves be a target for rolling post election. I suspect this has been behind Nationals timidity with regards to removing Luxon.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:20am
    - MCōs
      
      “She has the looks”
      She’s the NZ Minister of Education not a South Korean newsreader who are obligated to have cosmetic surgery
      
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      April 17, 2026 12:16pm
      - RoboRob
        
        ‘She has the looks’ is in regards to Hoskings point that Bishop doesn’t. But yeah, in a real world being attractive helps.
        
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        April 17, 2026 12:47pm
      - R
        
        Having ability and credibility is even more important.
        Two qualities totally missing during the six years of the last Labour govt; which so many seem to want to reinstate to the Treasury benches.
        
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        April 17, 2026 1:26pm
      - Jack5
        
        Cossie’s … not a South Korean newsreader who are obligated to have cosmetic surgery …
        
        What’s that about?
        
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        April 17, 2026 2:05pm
      - MCōs
        
        In South Korea TV newsreaders have to have had cosmetic surgery to look good enough to get the job.
        
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        April 17, 2026 8:14pm
  - Damocles11
    
    From the Hutt? Hosking represents the moneyed elite who are obsessed with property prices and maintaining high immigration levels in a failing attempt to re-start his beloved John Key’s ‘rockstar economy’. The ‘rockstar economy’ was a mirage created by ultra-low interest rates & record amounts of debt. It was killed stone dead as soon as inflation showed up in a big way. The likes of Hosking represent a rump of desperados who pine for the return of an era that has now passed. This obsession with reviving a defunct strategy and just going along with Labours maorification, co-governance, ‘Paris’ climate nonsense, and other aspects of their agenda…it has been a debacle. National has seriously bungled. They have pursued a largely ‘do nothing’ strategy of just waiting for inflation to fall and interest rates to come down & in doing so have created a leadership vacuum and also a moral vacuum. People on the right are rejecting this spineless centre-left National Party.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:00am
  - Wairoa Native
    
    Looking a bit rumpled is part of Bishop’s ‘average bloke’ brand. He’s a marketer and knows what he’s doing. But Hosking is right about Auckland home owners. Auckland is where general elections are won and lost. Those turkeys are not voting for a house price downgrade for their Christmas.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:16am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Stanford is an obvious choice. It is still too early to make the change. Probably worth 10% to the Nats. Nothing will actually change of course. No way National will go to the campaign with the current charmless wokester leading.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:39am
  - lifesgood
    
    I can’t for the life of me see why anyone would think of Bishop as a leader. He has even less charisma than Luxon. Changing leaders now would be foolish and despite the media pushing hard for this I would hope people wouldn’t be as clueless as they were when they annointed an utterly incompetent Jacinda as leader. What a mess she made of things. Surely NZers learnt from that, or maybe not. Newstalk ZB this morning with Andrew Dickens…sheesh! all the nut jobs and disgruntled calling in.
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:42am
    - Aquarius
      
      You have to be to listen to Dickens……
      
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      April 17, 2026 5:14pm
- RoboRob
  
  Everyone says changing leader close to an election results in failure. They state the data / history which clearly show that to be the case. Thinking on it this morning I wonder if those stats are true but misleading. The primary reason a party changes a leader close to an election is that the party is in desperate trouble. Thus changing leader usually results in defeat because the party is in big trouble already. Changing the leader doesn’t necessarily cause the defeat, the party was already in dire trouble.
  
  Everyone here knows I think they should change leader, however I suggested that from Jan 2025. I agree that changing leader now probably doesn’t help anything. I think he is a hopeless leader and perhaps they could choose someone else better (although I don’t know who, NOT Bishop or Willis). However I don’t think that means they will do noticeably better, what would even count as better? Gaining over 30% in the election?
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:14am
  - RoboRob
    
    I guess the question is, will rolling Luxon be better or worse for National? It’s not about win or lose, they might still get into power on 26% regardless of leader. It might be about will they be in on 26% or 31%.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:25am
    - imalwaysright
      
      If Luxon stays the pressure the media will put on him will be immense and he will crumble.
      He has sunk the Party in to the ‘loser zone’ where current supporters will soon see themselves as political fringe dwellers treading water, and they will go to NZF or ACT, or just not vote at all.
      
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      April 17, 2026 9:59am
  - Philview
    
    I read based on current polling Willis will not make it back to Parliament. That is probably concentrating her mind that something needs to change to keep her in employment.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:56am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Personally I would rather have the Finance Minister as a list MP who is focussed on working on the country’s books and not bothered with Mrs Jones’s drains or local speed limits or other “local” stuff ….
      
      Steven Joyce was a list MP. The general consensus was – like him or love him – he was pretty good at his job.
      
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      April 17, 2026 10:32am
  - R
    
    ‘even count as better’……..What would count for thd better of the countries future, would be for voters to begin to THINK FOR THEMSELVES about what future they want for NZ.
    Sadly, since the days of that buffoon Lange, with his governments DUMBING DOWN of EDUCATION – teaching what to think not how to think- NZ’s future may be in the hands of the media outlets and UNION secretaries
    
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    April 17, 2026 1:35pm
- Harro104
  
  The polls reflect the economic crap cards they’ve been dealt. There is no silver bullet here. Just a mountain of individual decisions which eventually culminates in economic momentum. Bravo on the Auckland Deal, India FTA and Northland roads, for example. Things like that will pay dividends, just not in this term of Govt. Smaller thing like extended WOFs and letting hair dressers serve a drink are small but across the entire country remove Govt imposed pain points.
  
  Don’t think about replacing Luxon as leader. We need stability and to keep climbing the mountain.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:25am
  - Damocles11
    
    I don’t know exactly what is in the India FTA. But many see it as a poison pill which will promote more of this dreadful mass immigration, and if that is the case then I am utterly opposed to it.
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:21am
    - newview
      
      Took me 30 seconds. Hardly an immigration free for all.
      The New Zealand-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) features a, “mobility arrangement” allowing 1,667 annual, three-year work visas for skilled Indian professionals—focusing on tech, engineering, and health—capped at 5,000 active, three-year visas, alongside 200 places for specialized, “iconic” occupations like AYUSH practitioners and chefs. The deal also enhances post-study work rights for Indian students and includes a working holiday scheme, signaling increased, “people-to-people
      
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      April 17, 2026 2:18pm
- coge
  
  I’m of the same view. When National takes a reaming in November, a lot of their members will be out of Parliament. Not a bad outcome.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:40am
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    But will they learn the lesson?
    
    Have the Conservatives in the UK learnt their lesson from the drubbing they received?
    
    It’s not a case of preferring Labour, it’s because the incumbants were dishonest and useless.
    
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    April 17, 2026 4:53pm
- rouppe
  
  What Luxon should do when asked that question is stop chuckling and go on the attack.
  
  Tova O’Brien is an easy target. “You were fired from your job, Tova, why is that?. Not going to take any advice from you on career prospects.”
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:49am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    He’s too soft to do that. I could totally see Winston saying it though.
    
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    April 17, 2026 12:06pm
- Simon
  
  National are a broken political party. Yep that’s what it is.
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:12am
  - Jethrod
    
    Oh golly Simon, National is your “bete noire” and I bet your masters love you saying the things you do. So what will your column be about tomorrow. Thomas Coughlan’s was nearly pro-National and Emmerson’s cartoon certainly was last week.
    The government-funded media handout must be nearly exhausted so that list seat is looking more attractive.
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:11am
- Clyde
  
  Here is what I see the reality is.
  
  Luxon does not have the incisive leadership image. He is doing a good management job but the charisma is lacking. He has some good cabinet members but there is no-one I see in the National cabinet with that undoubted leadership quality.
  
  NZF has such a leader in Peters – yes, many issues, but he has that charisma.
  
  ACT do have some good people including Seymour but the public service have managed to do a hit job on his sensible race policies to the extent that he is rendered helpless in cabinet because there are too many woke wet Nats round the table to stand up to the public service, the Universities, State media etc. Seymour also lacks that Peter’s quality of leadership.
  
  Labour are simply bereft of anyone with any form of leadership. The Greens are a basket case with their only support coming from the Universities and places like Dunedin. The less said about TPM the better. Nothing other than racists.
  
  So where to go?
  
  The only person I see with that leadership quality is Peters and he is appealing to the wider public. He has done a great job as Foreign Minister. Maybe what needs to happen is a grand coalition between NZ First and National and make Winnie PM?
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:42am
  - R
    
    No country, business nor organisation has ever succeeded based on Charisma. Success is bred through proven ability, competence; and a constructive investigative factually accurate reporting media, which has been missing from the NZ scene for some time
    
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    April 17, 2026 1:44pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Here are a couple of examples of organisations that do / did succeed based on charisma.
      
      1. NZF / Winston Peters. Pure charisma tossed in with an abundance of political skill.
      
      2. Labour / JA. Like it or not JA had something that appealed to many (not me). A hopeless Labour party got two terms of government based purely on her ‘charisma’.
      
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      April 17, 2026 2:28pm
- Taieri
  
  In my view, it’s not so much the lack of leadership, but the lack of vision for the future of this country. Numerous governments since Lange have been concentrating on applying patches here and there, with a varying degree of success. The end result: nothing really works anymore as it should and we are turning slowly into a Third World country.
  
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  April 17, 2026 11:08am
- Graeme Hall
  
  Given Chris Luxon’s lack of support for democracy then why would anyone vote for him?
  
  Look at the Council up north where people get appointed to a Council with full voting rights based on racial heritage and in numbers to control the organisation. The PM knows. The PM does nothing.
  
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  April 17, 2026 11:46am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Think about it? Labour have been silent for 2 weeks, then media Hipkins and Shamabel all in unison saying the government have not got any idea about the fuel crisis, even though importers have told them there is no problem with supply at this stage, I bet anything you like Varian are polling for Monday night, then we get this shit that no one can vouch for, and we are supposed to believe the rotten media.
  
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  April 17, 2026 12:29pm
Nikola Donatello

The media delights in this.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360965848/pm-christopher-luxon-national-party-leadership

Almost as good as a cyclone headed for New Zealand.

Of course it is not good news for National.

I honestly wonder whether they have any awareness of why are being deserted. I think two different reasons.

Firstly the economy never really recovered during the term. It might have picked up this year before the energy crisis. Not now.

Secondly many supporters feel betrayed. The issues have been discussed at length on this blog so I won’t repeat them again.
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April 17, 2026 8:11am
- Sensible moderate views
  
  The had one job and they failed
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:21am
- Souvlaki
  
  Indeed…they have SERIOUSLY fluffed their response to the Treaty Principles Bill….listening to the likes of Finlayson & Shipley…quislings!
  Watts response to whats goung on in Northland..typical of their indolence!
  
  Their erstwhile supporters largely now support others in the coalition…and will never return….but by the same token would NEVER vote left.
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:26am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Maorification of NZ is National policy.
    Luxon has to go.
    
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    April 17, 2026 8:41am
    - greybeard
      
      If it is National policy then changing the leader will achieve nothing: all of this anti-Luxon rhetoric is being driven by the Left and with the support of the MSM.
      
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      April 17, 2026 10:17am
      - RoboRob
        
        See the polls. It’s really nice to blame the MSM, ‘my team played great it was the ref’, but Luxon / National are the creators of their own demise. If this the MSM how is it that NZF and Act (both hated by the media) are doing well?
        
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        April 17, 2026 11:29am
      - greybeard
        
        Roborob: read what I wrote.
        “Anti-Luxon rhetoric”. Not anti-NZF or anti-ACT.
        The MSM knows that the coalition Govt under Luxon is doing really well .
        
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        April 17, 2026 11:58am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Exactly, and support the charlatan who will pull the rug over a vote to get rid of Maori seats at his very first opportunity
        
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        April 17, 2026 12:36pm
      - RoboRob
        
        @greybeard
        
        Same point. The MSM hate Winsoton and Seymour. How is it they do well despite the MSM?
        
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        April 17, 2026 12:49pm
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Douglas and Richardson both showed that you can implement economic reform and win elections. But National didn’t take decisive action to turn the economy around because they thought it would be unpopular. Turns out that shitty economic performance is also unpopular.
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:28am
  - RoboRob
    
    Richardson had bigger balls then anybody in the current nats (asside from maybe Stanford), and Richardson was a woman 🙂
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:21am
    - MCōs
      
      Also extremely unpopular and still is . . . . . .
      
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      April 17, 2026 9:52am
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        Like Thatcher, she did what had to be done.
        
        Many didn’t like the medicine that had to be taken.
        
        The piggy squeals loudest when it is pulled from the trough.
        
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        April 17, 2026 10:28am
- igm
  
  Easy to see the problem . . . too much maori!
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:31am
- MCōs
  
  “The media delights in this.”
  Of course they do. A caucus revolt is bread and butter to the media – even better if it involves a PM.
  
  There’s an election on the horizon and the Nats are slip sliding away. The way things are going it’ll be will Luxon partner Winston in the next administration not the other way around
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:50am
  - Damocles11
    
    Winston could be PM under this scenario, simply because of the lack of any strong leadership in the National Party. They are all pitifully wet and woke.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:07am
    - Ian Boag
      
      Winston could be PM
      
      An 80 year old Muldoon clone …. wow.
      
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      April 17, 2026 10:08am
      - Damocles11
        
        Don’t shoot the messenger.
        
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        April 17, 2026 11:23am
      - RoboRob
        
        The scary thing is that is really appealing right now based on the alternatives!
        
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        April 17, 2026 11:31am
    - Bobba Fret
      
      Perhaps Winston could be PM if they get enough of the party votes for NZF to go with Labour and form a government.
      
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      April 17, 2026 10:43am
      - R
        
        Which is Winston’s AIM, he knows from recent experience on the otherside how inept Chippie is.
        
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        April 17, 2026 1:51pm
- Scooter
  
  Luxon has been a one trick pony, his sole aim is getting the economy on track while ignoring the Maorification and co governance advancing within the govt and councils. National or Labour won’t change this so it’s up to Act or NZ First to step up.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:01am
  - Tarquin North
    
    After what Shane Jones had to say about the Northland District Council and how they operate I wouldn’t go near NZ1 with a barge pole.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:15am
  - RoboRob
    
    And he failed on his one trick
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:22am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Yes, we all thought he was going to make Maorification disappear….!
      
      Abracatikanga.
      
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      April 17, 2026 1:53pm
- Philview
  
  The most likely scenario is that National will replace Luxon with someone politically orientated to the Left of him. It will not pull support from Labour but will lose even more support to NZ First/ACT.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:06am
  - Damocles11
    
    Would be absolute madness if they did.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:07am
  - RoboRob
    
    Who in the party is more Left then Luxon? I agree with you statement though, whoever they choose is likely to be from the Left, thats who appears to hold power in National at the moment.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:23am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  “Almost as good as a cyclone headed for New Zealand”
  A variant of this “story” is headlined in virtually every media outlet this morning. It seems to have been led by an initial article? penned by Thomas Coughlan in the Herald with subsequent updates once Bishop spoke with Hosking a bit later. The amusing bit is that at Coughlan puts in a plug for Tame’s Sunday Q+A in the original version.
  Somehow I suspect that legislation doesn’t allow the CC to take action against a cartel “selling” an agenda!
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:53am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  It was recovering ffs, every time it started improving Trump has kicked them in the slats.
  
  Everyone believing the bullshit poll from yesterday that TM has not officially announced even this morning is a fool. Just look last week in the Curia poll compared to the month before, an 11 seat swing back to the coalition, yesterday’s poll still has the coalition miles in front, and I do not believe for one second Nats supporters have gone to NZF in the 10s of 1000’s in a month.
  
  Sadly though, yesterdays poll shows for the first time that NZF could work alone with Labour, now tell me how good it is supporting Peter’s, it’s 2027 all over again
  
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  April 17, 2026 12:34pm
Yvette

Brian Tamaki wants New Zealanders to vote at this year’s election on whether to reduce the size of Parliament after future elections.
The Destiny Church leader has launched a petition for a citizens-initiated referendum on the question: “Should the House of Representatives be reformed by reducing the number of Members of Parliament from 120 to 65?”
“Parliament is oversized and underperforming. It’s bloated, it’s inefficient, and Kiwis know it. This referendum is about cutting it down to size.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/govt-agency-feedback-revealed-on-proposed-brian-tamaki-initiated-referendum-to-cull-size-of-parliament/ITXXM4NNBRGSXO52SSVOWH3TIA/

As Tamaki seems to be stepping outside his pastoral concerns here, may one ask a question of him:
“Of the First of the Ten Commandments, “I am the LORD your God: You shall have no other gods before me” does Brian follow that, or does he allow te Ao o Maori – the Maori religious world view – to be part of the First Commandment?”
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April 17, 2026 8:15am
- MCōs
  
  Tamaki is irrelevant in NZ politics
  Quite apart from his hardline rhetoric established south Auckland politicians have cornered his particular zone of influence
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:03am
  - Yvette
    
    Tamaki may be irrelevant to politics, but not irrelevant to religion, particularly whether he condones pagan Ao o Maori, the Maori religious world view, which is advancing in primary schools through to science, law and what should be otherwise a secular Government and services.
    
    Is Tamaki a First Commandment obeying Christian allowing paganism first place?
    
    Is Luxon likewise a First Commandment obeying Christian allowing paganism first place, and is that moral question one point he is failing on?
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:33am
- imalwaysright
  
  Look at the current Parliament, only about a dozen MPs actually do anything relatively meaningful.
  The rest of them are whipped to vote with their Party, therefore serve no useful purpose at all.
  NZ needs no more than 12 MPs.
  
  But we do need an infrastructure cabinet made up of private sector experts capable of running our essential core needs independent from political interference.
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:18am
artemisia

Labour’s Russell says only tax policy its campaigning on is CGT, accuses National of lying about it

That is quite some accusing headline from Labour’s
Revenue spox who only yesterday supported thus a range of tax suggestions increasing tax bigly from lobby group Tax Justice Aotearoa – “I’m just saying, yeah, I think this is on the right track”

While the headline may be technically correct, as it refers only to the election campaign, does anyone really think a CGT to pay for 3 free GP visits a year is the only tax change a Labour-led government with Ms Edmonds as Revenue Minister will be happy with? If so let’s hear it now. Though perhaps they will stick to that by borrowing more. And more.

(Will leave it up to DG to spot the apostrophe missing in the headline.)

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/592555/labour-s-russell-says-only-tax-policy-its-campaigning-on-is-cgt-accuses-national-of-lying-about-it
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April 17, 2026 8:16am
- pdm
  
  Ms Edmonds as Revenue Minister.
  
  Does that mean Ms Swarbrick or Mr Waititi will be Finance Minister – or perhaps we could have joint Finance Ministers.
  
  And don’t forget Mr Peters would want to be in that mix too.
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:24am
- peterwn
  
  Nature abhors a vacuum. Labour’s campaign tactic has been to keep the policy target on its backside as small as possible ie a policy vacuum. So when a left wing group such as ‘Tax Justice” (well, I suppose that Robin Hood held up justice of some sort), proposes a taxation policy, it will be hung on the Labour Party.
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:30am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Tax justice. Yeah, right. If only the 40-50% of New Zealander who pay no net income tax actually contributed. That would be tax justice.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:28am
Dudley Quaffquaff

So we are now beginning to understand President Trump’s magnificent 17-dimensional chess strategy. His ultimate purpose, in doing everything possible to reduce international goodwill towards the US to an absolute minimum, has been in preparation to provoke direct confrontation and overt hostility with China, the country in the entire world that is best placed to completely destroy the US economy and is clever enough to minimize damage to other countries while doing it. Praise to His Name
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April 17, 2026 8:22am
- G152
  
  Trumps embargo on shipping in the Straits is going to cause the Chinese to take action.
  What that will be theres no knowing but I’d start digging a bomb shelter
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:05am
- Philview
  
  It is hard to know where the truth lies these days but I have read of a convoy of oil tankers is heading to the US. Per some reports the US has the capacity to refine Venezuelan oil as well. I don’t think Trump has time on his side but if he did manage to flip the oil market on its head, he is indeed playing a multi dimensional chess strategy but will it work.
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:47am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Certainly, US oil companies, along with every other oil company, benefit from high oil prices. People who are already rich getting richer as a result of Trump’s policies and at the expense of ordinary people, is very much par for the Trump course. If that’s his definition of winning, then congrats to him. But most of us aren’t seeing anything getting better from anything he’s done
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:11am
  - Taieri
    
    Per some reports the US has the capacity to refine Venezuelan oil as well
    ————
    
    They had the capacity for processing Venezuelan oil for many years and they used to do it in significant quantities. The problem now, is the condition of the oil production infrastructure in Venezuela. Much of it, particularly the storage facilities, is in the state of serious decay due to mismanagement and sanctions. This cannot be rectified overnight and will require an enormous amount of money and time.
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:19am
NeverMindTheBollocks

The fuel crisis is making for strange bedfellows.

Don Braid, of all people, is lambasting Kiwirail for not providing more trains to move freight.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/592627/mainfreight-ceo-frustrated-with-kiwirail-at-for-not-offering-additional-services
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April 17, 2026 8:24am
- R
  
  It is because of years of mismanagement, and UNION activity, that NZ railways become so mismanaged and inefficient, that road trucking took over freight
  
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  April 17, 2026 1:58pm
peterwn

I think it is more a case of journos interviewing typewriters. The whole Caucus would appreciate at this stage that changing leader at this late stage would turn possible defeat into certain defeat. It is not surprising there are claims of discontent, especially if a MP is asked leading questions on leadership. The National Caucus would realise that Superman is not available for the job. Todd Muller went into the leadership with a ‘Superman’ attitude (the only option he really had), but then realised down the track that he was a mere mortal and he would mentally implode if he carried on.
Any National MP who thinks they could take on leadership at this late stage would have a super sized ego that would swamp reality.
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April 17, 2026 8:25am
- imalwaysright
  
  “…changing leader at this late stage would turn possible defeat into certain defeat.”
  
  Probably the opposite.
  
  Nationals present support isn’t due to Luxon, but their loss of support is.
  
  There will be plenty who will come back when Luxon is gone.
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:48am
- RoboRob
  
  When you have a weak leader and low polling there are always stories around leadership, whether you are National or Labour.
  
  I think your claim that journos are making this up is wishful thinking. I am sure these rumours are true, how could they not be? Half the current MPs are facing losing their jobs, why would there not be people wanting change.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:31am
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    Would National get a jump in the polls if Luxon was to lead the charge against what is perceived to be happening in Northland?
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:34am
    - wsk12345
      
      Perceived?
      
      It’s happening.
      
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      April 17, 2026 11:17am
    - RoboRob
      
      I have been thinking on this.
      
      I believe Nationals election ‘plan’ has been for a whole heap of ‘good’ legislation to be enacted just prior to the election (RMA, removing treaty principles from legislation, new council rules etc). The positive vibes from this plus the ability to campaign on ‘look we fixed the RMA’, would push them up in the polls. I even think this strategy might work although I despise the politics of making the country wait for things just so they can get re elected.
      
      I think they miscalculated and delaying action until the election and wasting a year has made them look like ditherers and pushed support away. I am not sure a sudden reversal of policy and action on Northland (for example) would suddenly regain the lost support. It might or it might be seen a politicking and doing what is required to get elected with the plan of going back and doing nothing.
      
      To me it feels like the party is a hollow shell that says the right things prior to election but nobody really believes in what they are saying. It may be that a large portion do believe but are stymied by the leadership, only and insider would know.
      
      One thing is sure, Labour party members really do believe in what they are saying and we were lucky they were incompetent enough last time that they couldn’t achieve what they wanted.
      
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      April 17, 2026 11:44am
Tomtoddy

According to the Herald and Stuff “speculation is swirling around Luxon”. Funny the only speculation swirling is among lazy, biased journos too tired to do any more than walk down to the door to the House’s Chamber and lie in wait.

No facts, no quotes, no interviews, nothing just talking to their computer keyboard.

I’m no National supporter and I am unimpressed with Luxon’s and National’s efforts but it must be hard when almost every story and every cartoon is undermining. No wonder the polls are against them.
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April 17, 2026 8:27am
- AitchW
  
  The media excused Ardern’s abysmal government blaming Covid, White Island and (for God’s sake) that Tarrant fellow.
  Nothing about banning oil and gas exploration or the missing 30 billion from the Covid fund.
  The coalition has had to navigate not only the consequences of the economic and social vandalism and sabotage of Labour but also Trump’s tariffs and the war against Iran.
  No mention of any of those in the media, rather they beat up stories like the one about the PM not knowing how many Maori are in cabinet!
  A hostile media and equally hostile, resentful and spiteful public service are far bigger challenges than a volcanic eruption on an offshore island…..
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:39am
  - rouppe
    
    The coalition has had to navigate not only the consequences of the economic and social vandalism and sabotage of Labour but also Trump’s tariffs and the war against Iran.
    
    Yes, but don’t you think that it is naive of the entire government to assume that there would be NO shocks? Especially when Trump was elected at the same time, the likelihood of unknown unknowns should have shot up and preventative action taken immediately.
    
    Yet spending levels were maintained, public servant levels were maintained, and Maorification has become more embedded.
    
    I turn 65 next year. I’m currently no less than 50% likely to sell everything and move to SE Asia to protect myself from a future National Socialist government of Aotearoa.
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:47am
- Cassandra
  
  Yes to all the above Tom but what has National done about it? Cocking up an interview with Tov is just aiding and abetting suicide.
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:43am
- Fender
  
  must be hard?, do something about it, make their life difficult financially and don’t play their games. Seymour and Winston both can handle the uni grot interviewers, just bat them off and start supporting the Platform would be an obvious start, fight ridicule with ridicule, unless you aren’t actually as clever or quick thinking as your qualifications would suggest, then your toast
  
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  April 17, 2026 8:45am
- Damocles11
  
  The polls are speaking for themselves. The MSM is reacting to the poll numbers, not the other way around. We are basically reduced to begging the MSM not to pick on the close-to-defenceless Luxon at this point. It is all so pitifully weak. Muller was a corporate blancmange masquerading as a strong leader, and Luxon is cut from the same cloth.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:11am
- RoboRob
  
  Ofcourse there is speculation swirling around Luxon. He is a massively poor polling PM that has been dragging his party down in the polls for the entire term. When you are a sitting PM and regularly poll lower then the opposition leader, who is also a disaster, thats bad.
  
  This story isn’t made up. We have been talking about the possibility for at least a year, why would MPs about to lose their jobs not be?
  
  Should we just blame the MSM again and ignore reality.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:36am
  - Jack5
    
    FFS, Roborob, when are you going to wake up to the fact NZ now has coalition government, thanks to MMP.
    
    Luxon’s name appears only on voting papers in the Botany electorate.
    
    The goal of the personal campaign against Luxon is to destroy the Centre-Right coalition.
    
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    April 17, 2026 1:35pm
- nathie
  
  Is the speculation supposedly from 3 MP’s (if I heard the reporting correctly)?
  
  If so is it a case that they expressed some generalised concern but the journalists then conflate that as being “knife’s out”?
  
  Or if it’s true that they want change, then why don’t they speak up publicly (like MP’s did in the “old days”) so that we can judge the merit of their arguments, rather than hiding behind the skirt of the Media Party and being anonymous cowards who would rather destabalise the Govt & Coalition that the voters elected?
  
  It wouldn’t be hard to go through the List MP’s (or Electorate MP’s that are in marginal seats) and speculate who these MP’s are (which then casts aspersions against their fellow MP’s). So would they want that? If not, then put up or shut up!
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:48am
  - lifesgood
    
    Only 3 MPs out of how many? Laughable. Disgruntled MPs with high opinions of themselves by the sound of it. That’s if they even exist.
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:52am
  - newview
    
    agree. The media may have their sources but are unwilling to name names. Gutless mischief making.
    If it’s true and they know who these MPs are they should come clean rather than drill Luxon on the possibility. The media wonder why they’re hated. That’s why.
    
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    April 17, 2026 2:43pm
wisteria

Why is it that the “Media” keep on Chris Luxon’s back. Maybe they have such poor leadership themselves they need to criticise others. The voters spoke and made Mr Luxon the Prime Minister. If the media put their jobs on the line to be voted in or not every three year we might listen more carefully.
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April 17, 2026 8:30am
- RoboRob
  
  Yeah Luxon is a great leader, National have not faults or problems, it’s all a MSM conspiracy.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:36am
- imalwaysright
  
  “The voters spoke and made Mr Luxon the Prime Minister.”
  
  No, we don’t select the PM.
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:27am
sungsamning

James Christmas’ first media interview as new ACT Candidate. It was assumed he would run as a National candidate. [Contrary to what the fake news wants, the government will likely be returned. James isn’t a vegan, he is a lawyer. He worked for Key, Finlayson, and Bill English. He’s not a Co-governance guy.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VQM_ViJTNg
James Christmas’ First Media Interview As New ACT Candidate.
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April 17, 2026 8:36am
- David Garrett
  
  Sung: I got as far as ” I’m a treaty settlements guy…most New Zealanders see them as an end point”
  
  Any New Zealanders who think this latest crop of “full and final” settlements are an “end point” know nothing of history.
  
  They will never end until some government is brave enough to abolish the Waitangi Tribunal and say “No more”. And that’s just not going to happen.
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:29am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The claims keep coming because we keep paying.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:56am
    - David Garrett
      
      Imalways: exactly my point Sir…we need some political leader unafraid to point out – again and again – that the handouts for real or supposed grievances must stop.
      
      Sadly I can’t see that happening with our current crop of leaders – including Seymour.
      
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      April 17, 2026 11:43am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, I agree. Regardless of whether the next government is Labour, or National led; this woke Maorification stuff won’t go away. The choice is a 32 pounder ball and chain, or an 18 pounder one. The best thing anyone from Gen Z can do is move to a red state in the USA.
    
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    April 17, 2026 4:18pm
sungsamning

FrontPage Magazine’s Daniel Greenfield reported today on a piece of newly proposed legislation (AB 2624) that would criminalize any sort of investigative journalism in California, particularly as it pertains to “persons…in the immigrant community….” [Can’t have Dem malarkey exposed. What if some of them were jailed? Everyone has the right to a nice little earner. Will the Supremes have something to say about this? Surely, investigating a potential crime can’t be illegal? Even in California.]
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/04/after_nick_shirley_exposes_somali_fraud_california_democrats_move_to_criminalize_any_similar_efforts.html
After Nick Shirley exposes Somali fraud, California Democrats move to criminalize any similar efforts.
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April 17, 2026 8:37am
peterwn

Geelong Oil Refinery fire. Media painted it as being the whole refinery was on fire, there would be further oil disruption, prices would rise, etc, etc.
Reality – the fire was in an adjacent gas processing plant and despite the spectacular nature of the blaze the refinery kept functioning. The operators did reduce throughput as a precautionary measure which showed that they continued to have full control of the refinery (ie ancillary but essential control and instrumentation systems and associated cabling were not affected). I suspect the media would have dearly loved to have seen the refinery completely disabled for months or even abandoned. Anyway it produces about 10% of Australian oil needs, so if it was disabled refineries in Singapore, etc would have been able to process the crude that otherwise would go to Geelong.
We need more sane factual news, not sensational conjecture.
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April 17, 2026 8:41am
- MCōs
  
  “Media painted it as being the whole refinery was on fire”
  Media I’ve followed has indicated production has continued at a reduced rate.
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/fire-breaks-out-at-viva-energy-oil-refinery-in-victoria-australia/EBAUEQRKBFCEPG3YJOU7UM5WZI/
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:00am
  - peterwn
    
    Yes, that was my source of information, but I had to search through an number of news items to find a factual statement on the refinery status rather than the other sensationalist items with ill informed speculation.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:18am
- R
  
  Peter’s, this is election year. So all we ardgoing to get until 6th Nov is misinformation, sensationalist conjecture and oozing envy of the motivated element of the voters.
  
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  April 17, 2026 4:10pm
- sungsamning
  
  If a new oilfield with a bazillion barrels of the stuff were found tomorrow; the uni-party would find a way to stuff it up. They’d keep it in the ground, sell it overseas for pennies on the dollar, or slow walk everything.
  
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  April 17, 2026 4:22pm
Quail

National could win the election with a landslide if:
They simply supported ACTs call for a binding referendum on treaty reform!
The referendum to be held within a hundred days of the election .
One country , one people and one law!
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April 17, 2026 8:44am
- Damocles11
  
  It’s too late. The party was captured by the weak woke corporate faction and now we are in an utter mess as a consequence.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:12am
- peterwn
  
  If Chris Luxon really thought this, then he would proceed down that path. Last thing he wants to do is to precipitate a civil war.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:20am
  - RoboRob
    
    Luxons strategy appears to have been
    
    1. Dont do anything that might be divisive
    2. Leave all your major policy until just before the election and hope that gives you a bump.
    
    There is no way he is supporting Acts treaty bill. It’s also quite likely he personally doesn’t believe in it either.
    
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    April 17, 2026 9:40am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “Last thing he wants to do is to precipitate a civil war.”
    
    That’s hilarious, a civil war in NZ…
    
    You can just imagine the horrific scenes of Kiwis wagging their fingers at each other from a safe distance, and swearing at the tv.
    
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    April 17, 2026 10:34am
    - David Garrett
      
      Imalways: Sadly I disagree…the way we are heading, I can see a civil war in NZ…perhaps not in my lifetime, but certainly within my children’s.
      
      And being brown – albeit not Maori – which side would they be on?
      
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      April 17, 2026 12:46pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        DG,
        The demographic who would have taken to the streets are all on the wrong side of 60 now.
        The current generations under 50 have been emasculated over the last few decades and wouldn’t dare engage in civil disobedience.
        
        The only hope against the Maorification is Maori people themselves turning on their self appointed representatives who live high off the hog at their expense.
        
        Hard to believe they haven’t done it yet.
        
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        April 17, 2026 1:36pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    @peterwn @ 9:20AM
    
    Last thing he wants to do is to precipitate a civil war.
    
    Which is also why, in my view, there will not be a binding referendum on whether or not to abolish the Māori seats anytime soon – certainly not before 6 February 2040.
    
    (As I have said several times in recent years, the Māori seats will go only when Māori say they can go. That say-so will be when the Māori electoral quotient does not exceed 0.50. As I mentioned at GD on Wednesday, it is currently 7.43 (and trending upwards). In other words, in my view, the Māori seats are here to stay.)
    
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    April 17, 2026 2:19pm
    - Graeme Hall
      
      Maori seats? Isn’t it about time we had some factual data to support or abolish race-based seats, otherwise we will for ever be impoverished by ranting race-grifters like Willie Jackson, who got his DNA tested & was found to be about as Maori as the average pine-tree.
      
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      April 17, 2026 2:47pm
    - All_on_Red
      
      Well we are Maori
      At a Tangi a few weeks ago this was discussed amongst the group and the consensus was the seats were something which was no longer needed.
      There was also strong condemnation about those Maori who were using the situation for grift.
      We were all happy to have a Referendum.
      Lets have a Democratic choice.
      As one person said, just because some voices are louder than others that doesnt mean we all think like that…
      And talk of civil war is silly. But there will be lots and lots of noisy protests- which the Media will hype up.
      So it will be a painful process.
      This Govt doesnt have the courage for it.
      
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      April 17, 2026 2:57pm
- nathie
  
  I hope that ACT puts some thought into how they will frame and progress a referendum on Treaty reform because if they copy their last approach all that will happen is that the Maori Party and the Greens (supported by the leftie MSM) will be given a free, loud platform to whip up support and return to Parliament in strong numbers.
  
  David Seymour is a smart operator so hopefully he comes up with a more measured approach.
  
  Perhaps another option could be to concentrate less on the “Treaty” and instead investigate what other countries have, pick the best bits and advocate for a more generalised “one people/one nation” constitution, protecting both our British/European and Maori historial values.
  
  That way if new immigrants (from any nation) wants to come here, they need to subscribe to our unique values and not try and impose their cultural (or religious) beliefs on us.
  
  Look at the mess the UK and Europe has become, and look at Australia which is on a similar path! If we can unite our British, European and Maori heritage we all stand strong to resist change that future Left-wing (and weak Right-wing) govts will feel obliged to pander to. We should be learning the lessons that elsewhere in the world are on a path to loosing their identity.
  
  Best that the likes of ACT (and NZF) work on this and bring National along, because if they don’t then we run the risk that the likes of useless woke Labour with their TPM and Green mates will! He Puapua v2 with a nod to new “cultural norms” anyone?
  
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  April 17, 2026 11:46am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  Yes I agree that it is too late. A referendum on the Treaty Principles Bill would have passed by about 65/35 percent. Of course the opponents knew that. Which is why they needed to kill it.
  
  It is so depressing that there is so much urgently needed reform required yet so little has any prospect of being tackled.
  
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  April 17, 2026 1:22pm
MCōs

I thought the Mainfreight CEO was interesting on Morning Report this morning, particularly his criticism of KiwiRail, which he accused of being missing in action in these troubled times
Winston holds ministerial responsibility for KiwiRail
Is he sitting on his hands?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019031312/mainfreight-ceo-frustrated-at-kiwirail-auckland-transport
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April 17, 2026 9:10am
- peterwn
  
  Seems Mainfreight uses its trucks where available but expects Kiwirail to be on tap to handle any spill overs. Kiwirail wants REAL customers, not outfits who want to use Kiwirail as backup or a last resort.
  
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  April 17, 2026 10:13am
  - Graeme Hall
    
    I heard an interview a while ago with the Mainfreight CEO & was surprised how much they depend on KiwiRail – not for spill overs but as a important part of their day-to-day long haul operations in this country.
    
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    April 17, 2026 2:50pm
  - AitchW
    
    Mainfreight would be one of Kiwirail’s larger customers. Much of their interisland freight goes by train.
    
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    April 17, 2026 4:51pm
artemisia

BBC to cut almost one in 10 staff to make £500m savings

Philippa Childs, head of broadcasting union Bectu, says it’s devastating.

Interestingly in 2020 FTEs were a tad under 19,000. The FTE increase since then (to about 21,500) is not too far off the announced layoff number. Reasons for staff reduction are basically BBC not cutting its coat according to its cloth. But managing to increase staffing anyway. Spend and hope?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyv11lryv7ro
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April 17, 2026 9:19am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Now would be the perfect time for the Nat -Coalition to announce that the Government needs to bring in tight economic measures.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_sector_organisations_in_New_Zealand
  
  The budgets of Public Broadcasting/ useless Government departments – crown entities/ Universities should be severely cut in the forthcoming budget round.
  
  Might stop the Nats bleeding support to Act & NZ First.
  
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  April 17, 2026 11:00am
  - imalwaysright
    
    It would be interesting to know the accumulated amount that has been spent on each of these organisations.
    
    Even the minnows that get funding in the $50 million/year range can soon end up wasting the thick end of a billion dollars.
    
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    April 17, 2026 11:34am
  - MCōs
    
    The Nats are bleeding minimal support to Act whose polling numbers have barely changed over the past couple of years
    They’re bleeding numbers to NZ First and Labour. Not because those two parties are any great shakes, but because the Nats are so dispiriting all round
    
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    April 17, 2026 3:10pm
imalwaysright

Michael Laws related a ‘cultural report’ by Ngai Tahu objecting to the extension of McRaes Gold mine.

They said it offends four different Maori principles.

HOWEVER !!

They also said that if these principles aren’t, or can’t be, addressed then they will require “compensation”.

That is extortion.

https://www.facebook.com/theplatformnz/videos/michael-laws-on-ngai-tahu-demanding-compensation-from-mining-company-oceana-gold/25837379585859573/
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April 17, 2026 9:42am
- Hugh Jarse
  
  What used to be known as a good old shake down.
  
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  April 17, 2026 11:33am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Gore council are looking at allowing Iwi to register ‘cultural interest’ against any private property.
    
    We will probably see Iwi extorting money for deck permits or extensions.
    
    I don’t think the country realise what is going on.
    
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    April 17, 2026 12:44pm
- Charlotte Wells
  
  And so it will continue while there is money to be made by doing it and they are allowed to do it.
  
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  April 17, 2026 1:27pm
Yvette

In email newsletter this morning, David Seymour writes –

Yesterday ACT announced a plan to stop councils stripping democracy from you. I need your backing to make it happen.
Here’s what’s going on: across New Zealand, councils are quietly handing voting rights to unelected iwi appointees on committees that influence your rates, water, and even consents for things like building or farming. These people were never on a ballot. You cannot remove them. But they can outvote the councillors you did elect.
In the Far North, ten unelected appointees can now outvote six elected councillors following a council vote on Wednesday. ACT Local councillor Davina Smolders stood up alone to vote against it. She has faced threats, and protestors crowded into the council chamber where she cast her vote.  She voted no anyway. Because she was right.

– where does Christopher Luxon stand on this?

ACT councillor the only vote against more Maori voices for Far North Council committee as mayor say, “On with the mahi” – David Fisher, NZ Herald

Does Winston still sit on the fence, unhappy Labour didn’t tell him about He Puapua, but Luxon is letting it happen around him? New Zealand Second. Maori first.
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April 17, 2026 11:12am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  “”where does Christopher Luxon stand on this?” ”
  He does not care.
  
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  April 17, 2026 1:25pm
Albie

“New data reveals there were over 7,000 reports of assault against Health NZ staff.”
This from an article on ZB this morning. It was mentioned that security staff are not adequately trained in dealing with violent individuals at hospitals, particularly ED’s.
I have a suggestion: much like giving more responsibility to chemists, why not offer the security industry the required training and powers to detain these scroates until the police arrive, and pay them accordingly? Worthy of discussion I would think. DG’s opinion would be welcome.
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April 17, 2026 11:15am
- David Garrett
  
  Allbie: Well as it happens, before son left for Oz he was a security guard at Middlemore. He had some interesting stories.
  
  What pissed him off most was dragging shit heads off nurses and doctors, and then to have the same medical staff worried that he had hurt some fucking scrote…I shouldn’t say too much about what training my boy got…suffice to say they were more often told off than thanked by those they were protecting
  
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  April 17, 2026 12:59pm
Tom Hunter

Much as stuff like A good media regulation for the digital age model is interesting it’s small potatoes and as commentators are pointing out on that thread, for all its positive aspects it’s also an example of National dragging the chain again on an issue where they could have, and should have, shown some small-government spine early on.

I assume that DPF and his polling is still key to National so perhaps it’s just not possible, but I would appreciate a KB post that addresses – even if only in general terms of leadership in election years rather the specifics – the current shitstorm that the MSM are crafting about Luxon.

I don’t trust them as far as I could throw them (which would preferably be into Ruapehu’s volcanic lake), but the noise has even reached my eyes and ears despite ignoring them.

So WTF is actually happening with National at the moment?
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April 17, 2026 12:08pm
- surfing
  
  Luxon has been getting rolled for the last couple of months according to the NZH and stuff.
  
  At this stage, dumping Luxon would be the nail in National’s coffin for the next election, the media are proving they are the radical arm of the labour party. .
  
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  April 17, 2026 12:50pm
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Probably more than the next election, it will be English, Bridges, Mueller and Judith all over again. They will be gone for 6 years. If a few of the list holders are getting worried about their jobs they better factor in not getting them back for 6 years or more.
    
    It’s too late now they need to hold their water, ride this out and do the best they can at the election. It’s not only Luxon to blame here, it’s the woke policies of National that is sinking them, a new leader will not change their wokeness and will also become the focus of the media and if its Bishop they will crucify him over his texting issue of a few years ago. One thing that keeps getting forgotten is that in the main, the seats are going around within the three right parties, they aren’t migrating to the left in any great numbers.
    
    I just hope this is media circle jerking, if it’s not it’s going to be one huge own goal by National that will have huge impacts across New Zealand. By the time they get in again, NZ will be changed forever from what it is now.
    
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    April 17, 2026 4:08pm
    - AitchW
      
      If, god forbid, we are delivered a Labour/Green/Maori party in November it will be a one term government because the damage it does will make the Ardern/Robertson abomination look like wise stewards of our country.
      Of course it will set the recovery from said abomination back 50 years.
      The brain drain will be devastating.
      
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      April 17, 2026 4:57pm
      - Tom Hunter
        
        @AitchW
        
        The problem with that theory – much as I agree with it – is that we’ve already been through this.
        
        The next National-led government would simply “manage” it in the same way this crowd has the damage from Ardern-Robertson.
        
        I’ve reached the point where I see us having to reach an Argentina moment before anything good can happen.
        
        Except that we have no Milei in the wings.
        
        Not even close, and that includes ACT.
        
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        April 17, 2026 7:44pm
    - septic skeptic
      
      Luxon was the main obstacle to the Treaty Principles Bill (along with Winston of course). It might not be only Luxon, but it is mostly him and his personal (lack of) popularity that is sinking National fast. Your advice seems a bit like “hold course and full steam ahead – damn the icebergs!”
      
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      April 17, 2026 7:11pm
Yvette

■ Watch: PM arrives to face media amid leadership speculation
Christopher Luxon may face a difficult two weeks back at Parliament.
– Herald

■ Live: Leadership change would be a National Party ‘disaster’, minister says
–Stuff

■ Christopher Luxon adamant he’ll remain National leader amid speculation
– RNZ

■ Luxon facing leadership pressure from within party – reports
– TVNZ

Is it that ‘news’, instead of reporting news, is trying in unison to create it?
Could it be more obvious?
And have RNZ and TVNZ such bias as to not qualify as neutral State broadcasters and should be sold?
Now?
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April 17, 2026 12:29pm
- Crafty
  
  To be fair, Luxon has really done himself no favours with his responses in numerous interviews. Yes the media are w*****s but they always will be. Luxon is too scared to alienate them and now they have him skewered and I don’t reckon he’ll survive. Death by a thousand cuts.
  
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  April 17, 2026 2:37pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Yvette the issue is that National are in the 20s and Luxon as sitting PM is WAY behind Hipkins as preferred PM. Chris bloody Hipkins* is better liked than Luxon!! It’s obvious National will change the leader before polling day. Unless all their list MPs have already lined up better jobs outside parliament. There is bound to be speculation and RNZ and TVNZ are right to cover it. Sure, it would be a different story if the left were in power. RNZ and TVNZ are indeed deeply biased and should be sold. Maybe that was obvious to Melissa Lee and maybe Luxon and Goldsmith turfed her out because they think the populace needs to be fed a good dose of lefty propaganda every day. Anyway, RNZ and TVNZ are still here doing their thing.
  i
  * The man who misled and lied about Covid, lockdown breaches, treated his wife like trash, etc.
  
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  April 17, 2026 6:57pm
- Fender
  
  hasn’t it always been so though, Charles and Dianna, Megan and Harry, Trump. English newspaper propaganda was perfected during wartime to help the war effort which was so successful that it has just grown from there. Only the reason for it changed. It became a marketing, capitalist profit based war for supremacy of sales over competitors first and now with funding by political sides has morphed into a political marketing struggle with little regard for competitors because they are all owned by a few very rich people which has basically removed the competitive aspect from journalism leaving a combined flooding of messaging with the same slant.
  
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  April 17, 2026 9:12pm
Jack5

EV car batteries recycling — the beginning of a huge problem for NZ.

A good article’s printed in the latest AA Directions magazine that circulates to scores of thousands of New Zealanders.

For example, most batteries’ life is 10 years, the average life of a car in NZ is 15 years, and Japanese used vehicles coming into NZ are five or more years old.

Car batteries can cost $3,000 to $8,000 per tonne to recycle, and no-one in NZ has the resource consent to process them.

Then there’s the problem of how safely to deal with batteries damaged in car accidents.

You can read the article online at the following link:

https://www.aa.co.nz/membership/aa-directions/driver/end-of-life-options-for-ev-batteries/
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April 17, 2026 1:57pm
- AitchW
  
  How will the Greens and Labour spin this?
  
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  April 17, 2026 4:58pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360965966/mount-maunganui-landslide-aftermath-residents-feel-shut-out-recovery-decisions
I’ll bet that that if a group of maori residents asked the TCC to include it in the deliberations the council would bend over backwards.
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April 17, 2026 2:10pm
Crafty

As much as I think Luxon is unappreciated and treated appallingly by the media, I do think it is obvious he is clearly not going to resonate with the public and National are in danger or tanking big time this election. That Tova interview was a train wreck for sure, as much as I despise her and journos like her she highlighted once again that he just doesn’t have the political instincts. He got away with it last election but this one is a different kettle of fish. Should he do an Andrew Little and step aside? Thoughts? He’d make a great foreign minister but PM I don’t think he’s the right person at this point in time.
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April 17, 2026 2:31pm
- David Garrett
  
  Crafty: Successfully “doing an Andrew Little”. was a once in 50 year thing…every other time a party has tried it they have lost badly at the subsequent election
  
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  April 17, 2026 3:13pm
  - MCōs
    
    Jacinda Ardern was like a breath of fresh air compared to Little and English
    As it happened the Nats recovered the lost ground by the election, but Winston buggered that up for them
    
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    April 17, 2026 4:25pm
    - kowtow
      
      breath of fresh air? Faaark!
      
      Political halitosis.
      
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      April 17, 2026 5:31pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    DG, times have changed. Swapping the charmless Luxon for Erica Stanford a few months out from the election would be worth 10% to the Nats. Easy. People want a nice fresh face that they can pin their hopes on. Just don’t do it too soon. The idea is to sell the hope.
    
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    April 17, 2026 6:47pm
    - Ghost
      
      Actually what people want is the cost of living to come down, the price of petrol to come down, the cost of power to come down. Crime, education, health. A better looking face will not change what is currently facing this country, a new leader won’t make a difference.
      
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      April 17, 2026 7:04pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        But we all know the cost of living (really the productivity crisis) can’t be fixed by polling day. Ditto for everything else. If they can’t run on their record they need to run on a fresh face, hope and promises. I don’t expect Stanford to actually fix the issues – I’m just saying that she could easily win against Hipkins or whoever Labour choose to put to the voters in November. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Hipkins gets rolled as well.
        
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        April 17, 2026 7:18pm
- Jethrod
  
  Sorry couldn’t uptick or downtick as to many conflicting ideas for me.
  
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  April 17, 2026 3:22pm
- MCōs
  
  I watched the interview you referred to
  Why do you despise Tova?
  Her job is not to provide platforms for these characters to play out time with party political speeches.
  
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  April 17, 2026 3:30pm
  - R
    
    Re Tova’s job……she and colleagues certainly ALLOWED LABOUR MP’s to make mini party speeches.
    
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    April 17, 2026 4:22pm
- kowtow
  
  Thoughts .
  
  Poor and all as Luxon is as a PM , he’s woke , parachuted in by the National machine , has no base in the party , doesn’t really stand for much on the conservative values side of the equation , is very soft on constitutional ( race) issues ……( see I’m no fan) if the only thing he does is keep together a centrist ( I use that losely) coaltion , that keeps out the far left Labour , loon Greens and even worse separatist Maori party ,then by golly he’s achieved something , esp with Winston First in the tent !
  
  Meanwhile it’s up to the two partners to get the real work done ( yep , next to impossible)
  
  Here’s a thought , (given our battling times ). He’s like Eisenhower , not much of a fighting general , but a diplomat who kept the Allies together in the existential struggle against evil.
  
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  April 17, 2026 4:12pm
- Gravelroad
  
  As the result of the marvellous MMP system that so many admire (Not me), we have a coalition government.
  How about we see the three leaders stand up together and support each other in the interests of moving the country forward to a brighter future?
  As has been stated on many occasions, the National Party and its leadership, has had to duck and dive around two other parties – both with their own demanding agendas.
  This has impacted policy decisions and maybe PM Luxon is the one who is paying the price of having to appease his coalition partners.
  Makes him look weak and unable to make changes etc etc. Ever think of that?
  Anyone?
  
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  April 17, 2026 6:05pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    As the result of the marvellous MMP system that so many admire (Not me), […].
    
    What electoral system would you prefer we have, Gravelroad? And why?
    
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    April 17, 2026 6:36pm
    - Gravelroad
      
      At least with FPP the political party which won the most seats got the opportunity to govern the country based on their election policies, principles and promises.
      They made changes, got the things done they campaigned on and were accountable to the voters for their actions (or inaction) at the next election.
      What we have now is a mishmash of parties joined loosely together who don’t have to do a damn thing.
      MMP gives a coalition government such as we have now, the ability to pass the buck on policy.
      Can’t upset your coalition partner so just tread water and achieve nothing except keep billing the taxpayer.
      
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      April 17, 2026 7:16pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        I mostly agree, but the UK seems to prove that FPP can stuff up a country just as well. And as for the USA?? Meanwhile, China continues progress. I’m astounded at the changes that I have seen over there in the last 25 years.
        
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        April 17, 2026 7:25pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        with FPP the political party which won the most seats got the opportunity to govern the country based on their election policies, principles and promises.
        
        Even better if more than half the population were agin them. Might have even been that had fewer votes the the “losing” party. All depended on where your voters lived …..
        
        Showing your age and fond memories of Muldoon.
        
        Great system … not …
        
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        April 17, 2026 7:27pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        Okay. So your answer is FPP. Thought so.
        
        As Ian suggests, you are a man out of your time. You pine for a system that has gone, and which will never return – for very good reasons. (For example, just look at the UK.)
        
        Just to make sure you know, I prefer STV in large electoral districts, which I have promoted here for many years now.
        
        Have you given any thought to STV (as an alternative to MMP)?
        
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        April 17, 2026 8:00pm
Steve Todd

Check this out, Kiwibloggers – in just a couple of hours ago. It’s only 10 minutes.

It’s the brilliant Lawrence O’Donnell (MS NOW), once again excoriating Trump (in my view, rightly so).

Excerpt: The most irreligious president in US history says, “I’m all about the gospel.”

(See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEkiQBSMBTA [10:49].)
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April 17, 2026 5:31pm

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