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August 16, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 16 August 2026

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Yvette

Does religious freedom include freedom from religion?

When he was first touted as heir-apparent to John Key, a lot was made about Christopher Luxon’s faith.
Mr. Luxon said during his maiden parliamentary speech, following his rise to National Party leader, and during the 2023 election campaign that he’s a Christian, but that folks shouldn’t be worried about that ‘interfering with his politics’ because he wants to keep his personal life and his political life separate.
A quote, from his first speech to Parliament in 2021:
It [faith] is not in itself a political agenda. I believe no religion should dictate to the state, and no politician should use the political platform they have to force their beliefs on others.
https://medium.com/@danfromnz/the-christian-problem-i-have-with-christopher-luxon-0b5227364390

I believe no religion should dictate to the state, and no politician should use the political platform they have to force their beliefs on others – PM Christopher Luxon

Why, then, has Luxon allowed te Ao o Maori (the Maori religious world view) to permeate so much of Government and its services?

“Faith is not in itself a political agenda” – Luxon

I disagree –

Vast swathes of Government department documentation, quite notable online, now serves to raise Maori identity and authority (beliefs) – te Ao o Maori – above all other ethnic (racial) groups.
Having “already captured control of the public service, the schools and universities, the funding mechanisms of cultural production, and big chunks of the mainstream news media” this movement uses a 1980s’ – 90s’ variance of the Treaty which supports such Maori exceptionalism, but that isn’t mentioned in the original document.

Again, “Faith is not in itself a political agenda” – Luxon
“Really?”
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August 16, 2026 8:06am
- imalwaysright
  
  “Faith is not in itself a political agenda” – Luxon
  
  “–but its a very effective political tool.”
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:16am
- Simon
  
  All this Maori religious stuff is just used as part justification for the immense bureaucratic state.
  
  Luxon is core managerial state. Which the National party are part & parcel.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:21am
- Scott
  
  You are conflating two things. First of all the relentless pressure to secularism and drive Christianity out of the public square. This is what “freedom from religion means”. It is the neo Marxist desire to have no religion as the norm and Christianity, the faith that built western civilisation, to become marginal if not extinct in the public square.
  This is why Christopher Luxon had to downplay his faith. It seems that agnostic is the only acceptable religious position for a NZ prime Minister.
  
  Secondly is the obsequious kowtowing to all Maori culture including their traditional gods. The same woke person who wants freedom from Christianity more often that not is happy to bow down at the altar of the old Maori gods.
  
  As I’ve often said, the people will have a religion. It may be wokeness. It may be Christianity. What I would argue for is to spend that hour a week in church and not have to endure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of wokeness.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:52am
  - Ra Henare
    
    According to the most recent census, 50% of people did not identify with any particular religion.
    
    According to the official 2023 New Zealand Census 32.3 % identified as Christian
    
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    August 16, 2026 1:39pm
  - Hard Cheese
    
    Shock, horror – I agree 100%. This 24×7 deference to all things Maori is a cult. A cult driven by fear of losing your job, or your place at the trough, or being called a racist non-cult member.
    
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    August 16, 2026 10:08pm
- Quail
  
  Yvette,
  You raise a very important point.
  Leaders must have binding principles to engender voters trust.
  The question is what are those principles and where are they sourced?
  Christianity is the one reliable source of valid principle for more than 2000, years .( eg the Ten Commandments)
  The Marx ( if you don’t like my principles I have others ) and Maori ( mythical) version of principle is clearly based on total self interest .
  There is zero interest in the well being of others!
  Political manifestos were once a good guide for voters but with the advent of MMP they have largely become meaningless. Manifestoes disappear at the consultative phase of the election process.
  Getting elected now seems to be the over arching motivation of most politicians.
  Leading and giving service to electors is not the priority it should be.
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:23am
  - R
    
    Under the the MMP regime, elections have become a personality paraded competition.
    
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    August 16, 2026 1:04pm
Souvlaki

….imagine how worse it could become….😱
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August 16, 2026 8:08am
- lastmanstanding
  
  Labours attack on the family bach is yet another of their attacks on our culture. Most family baches are not Omaha McMansions. They are modest. In the case of our family a weatherboard and iron roof two bedroom with a valuation of $50,000. Like most my wife and I plan on leaving it to our children ( I tell them this will be all we can afford the leave them) as our legacy to them and having grown up and spent many happy holidays they are more than happy to inherit it. But circumstances change and it maybe they have to sell at some time in the future.
  This like most of the Lefts taxes are Envy Taxes the taxes of the Green Eyed whose only agenda is to punish the hard working and reward the feckless and lazy.
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:14am
  - kowtow
    
    Across the western world leftist govts have found another way to attack private property rights , raise more taxes and whip up class envy and division .
    
    From UK Labour , to the Mamdami type new Democrats in the US and all the way down here .
    
    And the mainstream media just love it.
    
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    August 16, 2026 11:18am
  - Ian Boag
    
    $50k? Yer what? Missing a zero there?
    
    Holiday homes are not owned by an awful lot of Kiwis. Whatever the tax rules end up at, protection of holiday homes should not be a major item.
    
    Spoken as someone who owned one for 40 years and sold it because it cost too much to own, the children weren’t really interested and Bachcare were a waste of space.
    
    If we end up with a CGT that exempts the family home it should do it for just one of them ….
    
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    August 16, 2026 6:48pm
    - wsk12345
      
      Surely a couple should get one each? Otherwise unfair on married peiple.
      
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      August 16, 2026 8:39pm
Simon

Is it time for NZ war boats to join the Iran war? The “warriors of the seas” are ready and waiting to take apart the mad mullahs. They are so mad. There is no gay marriage in Iran. This cant stand.
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August 16, 2026 8:12am
- Gulag1917
  
  Gay crusade?
  
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  August 16, 2026 1:02pm
Positan

A very telling article on the determinably-solid substance of Chris Penk, by Damien Grant.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361020261/ex-navy-officer-chris-penk-can-see-iceberg-ahead-yet-national-threw-him-overboard

Demoting Penk – especially at this time so close to the election, was an act of gross political ineptitude by Luxon that certainly will not go unheeded by the larger electorate. National’s vote in Kaipara will plummet.

More than anything else, it underlines just how lacking is Luxon in that fundamental attribute of Leaders, political nous. The dumping of Penk shows up far more clearly as an immature act of political spite – not anything remotely akin to reasoned political judgment.
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August 16, 2026 8:12am
- imalwaysright
  
  P
  And putting 11 portfolios under the ‘care’ of Goldsmith, three months before an election, is an indication of the disdain with which they view the running of the country against their priority of campaigning to get reelected.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:27am
- artemisia
  
  What about the relentless criticism of Mr Luxon for being weak and woke. His decision wrt Mr Penk was neither but was no doubt informed by the PM’s key priority – keeping the coalition running New Zealand.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:28am
- Ghost
  
  You would have to be a moron to leave a mp who is leaking to the media and trying to destabilize a government when the campaigning is about to start. He got demoted, which was the correct action, then he threw his toys out and quit. He was an idiot, but some seem to make him out to be a hero because of their dislike of the PM. No, he won’t turn up in another party, no one will want his behaviour. You are the one lacking any reasonable judgement and showing your bias
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:39am
  - Positan
    
    Ghost, do try and apply a littleobservation to research and fact. It’s called detection.
    
    I’m quite sure you’d find the process helpful, not to mention, spiritually uplifting.
    
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    August 16, 2026 8:55am
    - Positan
      
      Sorry Ghost, I should have added that I do not dislike Luxon. He seems like a nice guy and an ordinary decent bloke.
      
      However, I’m well aware that his existing talents render him nowhere close to understanding what is absolutely required in a political leader, and what are the consequences of making a political mis-step.
      That really has to be intuitive – and Luxon’s shown countless times that he doesn’t have it.
      
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      August 16, 2026 9:04am
    - peterwn
      
      Exactly. What Chris Luxon had to do was so damn obvious. Which ever way you look at it, Chris Penk’s actions could have and possibly has lost the election for National.
      
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      August 16, 2026 9:05am
      - Dougal10
        
        And if national lose the election maybe Penk was right and a visionary , we will know in a couple of months .
        
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        August 16, 2026 9:23am
      - Jack5
        
        Or, Dougal 10, if the Centre-Right is defeated it might be because Penk weakened it with his
        coup attempt.
        
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        August 16, 2026 1:57pm
    - Ghost
      
      do try to deal with the facts instead of writing nonsense and inventing what you think took place and should take place. The guy is a liability. He was leaking to the media 80 plus days from an election. He was not only trying to destabilize the national party but the government. I realise some of you have stupidly invented polling numbers you think would happen if such and such took over leadership.
      
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      August 16, 2026 10:30am
      - imalwaysright
        
        “…and inventing what you think took place and should take place.”
        
        “…He was leaking to the media 80 plus days from an election. He was not only trying to destabilize the national party but the government.”
        
        You seem to be doing what you are accusing others of.
        How about some proof of your allegations?
        
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        August 16, 2026 11:46am
    - Jack5
      
      Peterwn’s … Penk’s actions could have and possibly has lost the election for National …
      
      Penk’s mutiny would have led to a Centre-Left coalition running the country within a few months.
      
      Penk wasn’t acting alone.
      
      The State-owned and State-subsidised media were shamelessly pushing hard for what proved to be a political mutiny. They want a Centre-Left government.
      
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      August 16, 2026 11:10am
      - R
        
        And IFwe get a centre (?) Left govt, Nov 7th 2026 may well be the last truly democratic election NZ ever has. History of political revolutions proves this.
        
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        August 16, 2026 12:18pm
  - peterwn
    
    He did not throw his toys out. He read his own Horoscope and realised he had no future in the party. Otherwise Chris Luxon would have read the Horoscope for him (a Royal Navy term for receiving a bollocking and being told you have no future in the Navy – similar to the Army’s meeting without coffee). Perhaps he might pop up again in the future as a NZF candidate.
    
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    August 16, 2026 9:11am
    - pdm
      
      I would prefer to see Penk with ACT.
      
      I think he would have something to offer there and I suspect in his Building Portfolio he would have worked closely with Simon Court so there is an all probability a connection to ACT.
      
      I doubt Penk would have the same connection to any individual Minister or Undersecretary in NZFirst.
      
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      August 16, 2026 10:17am
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        Penk is a conservative, and ACT is not a conservative party.
        
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        August 16, 2026 11:55am
      - Don Beckett
        
        ACT is more conservative than the Nats.
        
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        August 16, 2026 2:29pm
    - R
      
      How do you know that PM LUXON hasn’t/didn’t read Penk his horoscope?
      
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      August 16, 2026 12:21pm
      - peterwn
        
        I do not know. Anyway it is irrelevant who pulled the pin first, the outcome was the same.
        
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        August 16, 2026 3:06pm
    - Observer of Life
      
      Preferably ACT.
      
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      August 16, 2026 3:07pm
    - Quail
      
      R.
      NZ has not had a truly democratic election since the advent of MMP!
      
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      August 16, 2026 7:59pm
  - Dougal10
    
    Ghost you think Penk is an idiot , I think Luxon is an idiot , both of us are probably right .
    
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    August 16, 2026 9:21am
  - David Garrett
    
    Ghost: Well said. I Believe Penk is , like me, an admirer of one Winston Spencer Churchill. For most of the 1930’s WSC sat on the back benches, out of power and IMO unfairly blamed for the Gallipoli debacle. But he came back.
    
    Look at the career of Churchill ‘s namesake, The Great Charlatan. Out of Parliament altogether from 2008 to 2011, he came back and served a term as Deputy PM.
    
    Penk evidently didn’t think he was capable of making a return to cabinet some time in the future.
    
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    August 16, 2026 10:05am
    - peterwn
      
      I would not be surprised if Chris Luxon threatened to engineer his ‘un-nomination’ from his seat.
      
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      August 16, 2026 3:08pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      unfairly blamed for the Gallipoli debacle
      
      Wot? He did a good job as PM, but Gallipoli was his baby. In WWII he was also the reason that NZers got sent to Greece/Crete – where they were creamed – after he pulled them out of the Western Desert when the Italians were pretty stuffed and created the space for Rommel ….
      
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      August 16, 2026 7:16pm
  - KiWombat
    
    Ghost, the MP to whom you refer is still sitting around the cabinet table.
    
    Penk did the honourable thing and walked the gangplank !
    
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    August 16, 2026 10:38am
- rouppe
  
  What actions should he have taken, in your opinion?
  
  As an aside, he was an officer in the NZ Navy (haven’t been able to determine his rank) and graduated with a law degree.
  
  But if this fiasco is a demonstration of his level of planning for combat operations, we can only be thankful he never commanded any.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:41am
  - kowtow
    
    Run silent , run deep .
    
    Surfaced too early.
    
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    August 16, 2026 9:13am
    - David Garrett
      
      kowtow: A fellow lover of classic movies I see…For the others. “Run silent, run deep” starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster is a WW II movie which modern submariners consider the best movie made about their calling.
      
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      August 16, 2026 12:36pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Penk was a submarine navigator on the HMAS Sheean
        
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        August 16, 2026 1:24pm
      - Jack5
        
        Two of the great submarine films: Das Boot and The Hunt for Red October.
        
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        August 16, 2026 2:03pm
      - kowtow
        
        There’s some correspondence in the UK Daily Telegraph at the moment due to a war movie review .
        
        One letter writer has opined that the reviewer neglected to mention The Cruel Sea as an all time great .And they are of course quite right.
        
        Having said that and in the current context , Mutiny on the Bounty with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins as Bligh is another great movie.
        
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        August 16, 2026 2:33pm
      - Quail
        
        Try HMS Ulysses. by Alistair Maclean.
        Fiction but apparently realistic.
        
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        August 16, 2026 8:04pm
  - Positan
    
    rouppe, let me say that the caucus “meeting” took 3 and a half hours. Did Penk’s “challenge” require all that time if he was such an ill-considered quantity in cabinet?
    
    Again, there’s something very strange indicated by the media’s subsequent focus as to the positions of Bishop and Stanford – and the failure of these two to front on Hosking after the “vote.”
    
    As a long-time Nat I see things far more clearly now than I once did as regards the conduct of our once-to-be-believed-as-worthies. I’m absolutely certain that Penk didn’t act on his own accord – his Kaitaia majority made him safe whatever happens in November – so he wasn’t threatened – and Luxon should have realised that before he swung the axe.
    
    Believe me, Penk’s action had NOTHING to do with the planning of naval operations. Remember, long after his loss to the Navy, it lost a perfectly good boat near Samoa …
    
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    August 16, 2026 9:18am
    - BeaB
      
      As a former senior member of the navy and being in possession of a law degree, Penk should have had some knowledge of treachery and mutiny and their consequences. If he was so untrustworthy and duplicitous, he had to go. If he was so dumb as to be led by the nose by others, he had to go. No one seems to have asked why he never got into the cabinet until recently, if he was such an outstanding chap.
      Once again the media paint people as villains and saints. As always, we are badly served by our so-called journalists.
      
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      August 16, 2026 9:37am
    - rouppe
      
      Well, he seems to be a bright guy. I infer that from his commission, and his law degree.
      
      A parliamentary coup requires planning. You’re right that it’s pretty clear he wasn’t acting alone. I was likening that – or trying to – to a combat mission.
      
      I was trying to say that his part in the planning allowed himself to be completely isolated and thrown under the bus. That is extremely poor tactical nous.
      
      Tactical nous is important in combat operations. Hence my final sentence.
      
      The loss of the boat in Samoa is an irrelevant comment. It involved different people with different factors at play, certainly not in a combat scenario. You might as well have used the coup against Helen Clark as a comparison.
      
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      August 16, 2026 11:44am
      - artemisia
        
        Here’s another POV. The spill could have gone Mr Penk’s way. Much better odds than Lotto and a sea change for National if he did succeed. There has been a lot of negativity about the PM and National in general – here and in the wider mainstream and social media.
        
        There is enough time in the run up to the election for a changed National to make some very bold policy statements esp if supported by other coalition partners. And we-the-people. A different election for sure but maybe a win for conservatives.
        
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        August 16, 2026 12:06pm
    - rouppe
      
      And you still didn’t answer the “what action should he [Luxon] have taken” question…
      
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      August 16, 2026 12:04pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Luxon should have listened to the dissenters and worked to accomodate some of their views.
        
        Always a pity to discard good suggestions and stay working with worn-out material.
        
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        August 16, 2026 1:28pm
      - rouppe
        
        What were those dissenters’ views?
        
        I’ve not heard a bold policy direction from either Stanford or Bishop that was shot down by Luxon. Both of them were standing behind Luxon nodding enthusiastically (God I hate that performative crap) when he spiked the TPB.
        
        If you have an inside line, and have heard of some, well therein lies the problem. Ordinary folk like myself can only make decisions based on information in front of us.
        
        And actually, though I haven’t done any in depth research, I’m struggling to think of any successful coup – certainly within National – that resulted in a bold policy change of direction.
        
        I will give Luxon credit for his international work. There are a number of FTA’s and less formal agreements between NZ and several other nations that Luxon has put the effort into supporting and promoting. That puts this country in a better opportunity position. But transformative domestic policy changes – repeat transformative – have been pretty thin. Education has been one.
        
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        August 16, 2026 1:55pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        If you have an inside line, and have heard of some,
        
        Absolutely not. I have no connections with any folk in Nats or the Coalition Gvt.
        
        Like you, I’m trying to put 2+2 together…and my reasoning to date goes like this:
        
        a. there is some dissension/unhappiness in the Nats caucus (as evidenced by 2 leadership rumbles this year…and by a 3.5 hr caucus meeting on Luxon’s leadership)
        
        b. Penk has gone…. but by all accounts seems to have been a competent MP.
        
        c. What remains is doubt…. Has Christopher Luxon cauterised a weeping wound in the Nats caucus, or has he opened up a bigger wound by not listening to some of the concerns of his disaffected members?
        
        d. A strong leader knows how to work with those that hold contrary opinions …
        I’m left with the impression that Luxon isn’t able to change tack when the winds are changing.
        
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        August 16, 2026 2:31pm
      - rouppe
        
        @Maggy fair enough. Reasonable conclusions to draw. I won’t disagree with any of them.
        
        I agree especially that Luxon may not properly include the thinking of other ministers in his decisions. That is a CEO trait.
        
        But. Alongside your very reasonable reasoning, the elephant in the room still needs addressing. My reasoning goes like this:
        
        The day played out as it did. Penk was the one who put his head above the parapet. At the end of the day:
        1. Doing nothing was not an option. That leaves Luxon looking indecisive, or weak, or both.
        2. So someone had to be sacrificed. It seems clear neither Stanford* nor Bishop put their hands up which leaves you with the rather schoolyard-ish situation of the principal asking the class “who set fire to the toilet” and everyone standing there shuffling their feet.
        3. That leaves you pointing to the guy with the box of matches in his hand. He can either say “Johnny gave them to me” or say nothing and take the consequences. Penk chose the latter.
        
        I ask again. What was he supposed to do, in that situation, on that day, with smoke still coming off the toilet, with the only information at hand being Penk holding the matches?
        
        * Stanford is categorically denying any involvement.
        
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        August 16, 2026 2:51pm
      - rouppe
        
        And since the mountain is closed today, I was cleaning the cooker which allowed me to mull some more…
        
        The election is ~90 days away. If the reason for the coup was that without it they thought they’d lose, why would Penk not contest his seat?
        
        He seems to have support there, and if the coalition loses then almost certainly Luxon will go, and Penk could be back in the game, albeit in opposition.
        
        And in reality, a back bench MP in government is no worse than an opposition MP, is it?
        🤷
        
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        August 16, 2026 3:27pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Now we have a 3 month wake as the party slides into the political grave of 25% poll ratings with Luxon as undertaker.
    
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    August 16, 2026 2:14pm
  - peterwn
    
    Lieutenant (third lowest officer rank).
    
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    August 16, 2026 3:22pm
    - lifesgood
      
      And law degrees are not that difficult.
      
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      August 16, 2026 4:50pm
      - peterwn
        
        Not in a law school uses the ‘Socratic Method’ and its students go on to do post grad at Harvard and other Ivy League law schools.
        
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        August 16, 2026 7:46pm
- kowtow
  
  And what of Penk’s “political nous” being a stalking horse for an attempted coup only months from an election.
  
  Grant commences his interview with Plunket the other morning with a “morena” greeting , I wonder if he learned that wokery in prison.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:51am
- R
  
  Positan, what you consider a ‘…of political nous’ is actually an act of political leadership. Surely you understand that the aim of the MSM is to destroy the National Party and the coalition govt. The continual nibbling at every small insignificant act of the coalition- PM LUXON in particular- developing ‘mountains out of pimples’; is purely to discredit a competent government coalition, and sew doubt in the minds of the electors.
  What this country needs, for the greater good of the lower socio-economic group is positive development of employment opportunities, not ideological mischief making. Some practical credible policies from Labour would help, their fringe prospective coalition parties have already made clear their desire for a MARXIST economy. Unfortunately the country has very few journalists who can research and report factually and accurately on events in the political field; infact in most fields.
  Good governance requires steady fact driven decisions based on economic and social observed facts in all fields of governance; such qualities are not found in ideological organisations with Union and Activists backgrounds.
  Only infants and small children believe in Santa Clause, who only comes once a year.
  
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  August 16, 2026 10:52am
- Mod88
  
  Penk was sacked because Luxon was too scared to sack the co-conspirators, one of whom turned traitor on them and went running to him and it was all a failed coup because of “Ego(s)”.
  
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  August 16, 2026 10:54am
  - lifesgood
    
    And you know this? How?
    
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    August 16, 2026 4:52pm
Yvette

Willie Jackson opens door to smaller land tax deal with Opportunity
Senior Labour MP Willie Jackson has signalled Labour would negotiate with Opportunity after the election, refusing to rule out accepting a reduced land tax to secure its support. His comments contrast with Chris Hipkins’ declaration that there was “no way” Labour would support Opportunity’s tax package.

Appearing on Ryan Bridge TODAY, Jackson said Labour would treat Opportunity respectfully and discuss its policies rather than dismissing the party.

“We’re not obviously going to go along with the number they’re talking about in terms of land tax,” he said.

Asked what rate Labour could accept instead of 1.75%, including whether it could “stomach” 1.5%, Jackson replied: “Who knows? Who knows?”

“The priority is getting rid of this dirty, filthy, rotten group of mongrels who are the government,” he said. “[TOP] They’ve got ideas. They’re new, and we’ll talk with them.”
https://centrist.nz/who-knows-willie-jackson-opens-door-to-smaller-land-tax-deal-with-opportunity-1786792276258?

Follow-up question which no journalist will ask: Does Hipkins agree with Jackson?
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August 16, 2026 8:19am
- Dougal10
  
  Willie knows Hipkins is a dead man walking, he cant and wont do anything about what spews out of willies mouth.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:38am
- imalwaysright
  
  TOP is there to promote extreme policies that neither main party would dare even whisper.
  
  Post election, when the deals will be done, whichever party hooks up with TOP will brag as to how they managed to negotiate to reel in TOP’s extreme Communism to a more acceptable moderate Socialism…
  
  We are being conned.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:38am
- Notsofast
  
  “dirty, filthy, rotten group of mongrels”
  
  Like the haka, the mock gun pointing in parliament, Jackson and his mob are beyond civilizing.
  Good luck to their useful idiot champions.
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:40am
- Nūhaka Native
  
  Jackson, de facto leader of Labour (well, the Māori caucus anyway).
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:37am
- pdm
  
  Yvette you make a very good point even though you do not say it in so many words.
  
  The point you so clearly make is this.
  
  Willie Jackson has more clout and so is more in charge of the Labour Cuacus than Chris Hipkins is.
  
  Hipkins is leader in name only and those running the cutter are more likely to be – Willie Jackson, Willow-Jean Prime and the rest of the (so called) Maori Caucus.
  
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  August 16, 2026 10:33am
  - R
    
    Willie has more clout…… I think, from recent reported comments, that Comrade Clark is still controlling the Labour Party
    
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    August 16, 2026 10:56am
  - AitchW
    
    The so called “Maori Caucus” whose strings are pulled by John Jamihere.
    
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    August 16, 2026 10:59am
  - Yvette
    
    I have often wondered why Jacinda Ardern seemed to favour Maorisation when she was rather un-interested, to the extent of not knowing too much about it, like what the First Article of the Treaty was until Willie, standing behind her at Waitangi, prompted her.
    What other prompting did Willie do perhaps with the idea the Maori Caucus could secede from Labour?
    
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    August 16, 2026 11:34am
artemisia

ACT’s proposed public service employment changes. Herald today, not paywalled.

In summary “reset” the public service around what it calls the “basic principles of equal treatment, individual freedom, political and religious neutrality, and accountability for results”. Specifics included in the article.

Hard to argue. Outrage incoming anyway.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2026-acts-public-service-reset-includes-removing-good-employer-requirements-enshrining-need-not-race/PVUPNVGLLFAETDEFZSV3WCXSVE/
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August 16, 2026 8:22am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  This is exactly what is needed. But will the Nats support it, or vote it down?
  
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  August 16, 2026 10:07am
- Media hater
  
  The fact is the NZ public service will continue to do whatever they want.
  
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  August 16, 2026 4:19pm
Cassandra

Willie Jackson: “The priority is getting rid of this dirty, filthy, rotten group of mongrels who are the government,” he said.

Is calling a group of people “mongrels” permitted these days?
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August 16, 2026 8:31am
- Quail
  
  Cassandra,
  Jackson’s comment is totally unacceptable . His additional adjectives are worse .
  “Hate speech” perhaps?
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:38am
- Souvlaki
  
  Get with the ‘plan’ won’t you…of course you can abuse people ‘Willy’ nilly if your one of the special race….
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:38am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Sure it is.
  
  https://cvltnation.com/mighty-mongrel-mob/
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:44am
  - David Garrett
    
    Maggy: Lovely. The worst of those pics by far was the mobster with two young kids – younger than 10 – who both have their own “Mighty Mongrel Mob” T shirts.
    
    It is often said by apologists for these scum that they want something better for their children. Maybe so – but certainly not this guy who wants his kids to follow him down the path of lawlessness and violence.
    
    I wonder what said scum think their daughters’ future should be? Probably best I don’t know.
    
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    August 16, 2026 10:35am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I wonder what said scum think their daughters’ future should be?
      
      A life of abuse and servitude if these (old) stats and video are anything to go by:
      
      https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/research/research-on-gangs-and-their-cost/index.html
      
      https://whitioraproductions.com/screen-script/gang-girls
      
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      August 16, 2026 1:33pm
- Positan
  
  Every time Jackson opens his mouth he reveals how very little he has matured as a human being – let alone in showing himself to be of the standard/substance of a person who is a parliamentary representative in this country.
  
  One can take the bovver-boy thug out of his natural environment but, in this case, as Jackson so often has shown, one cannot expect that his personal conduct and manners are ever going to improve.
  
  (Incidentally, what happened over Jackson’s interference in the MUMA situation involving his wife? I know she resigned as general manager, but did McCarten’s union ever follow through on the issues that were raised by MUMA’s staff?)
  
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  August 16, 2026 8:48am
  - Jack5
    
    Willie Jackson’s former wife gives an interesting portrait of the man:
    
    https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/moana-maniapoto-the-willie-jackson-i-know/
    
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    August 16, 2026 2:18pm
- Prince
  
  Isn’t Jackson the guy who backed a group of thugs drugging, raping and filming underage kids ?
  It figures.
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:04am
- R
  
  It is normal vernacular practice in a large section of our population. A sign of failed education in communication, i.e the ability to express thoughts and ideas articulately.
  
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  August 16, 2026 11:00am
sungsamning

https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/08/13/hospitals-targeted-by-vance-kennedy/
Hospitals ‘Got Rich’ and Were ‘Mutilating’ Children—Vance, HHS Officials Announce Report.
President Donald Trump’s administration has identified hundreds of medical institutions that turned children into lifelong patients through gender-related “sex-rejecting procedures for minors,” according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The effort marks yet another move by the administration against medical institutions that provide so-called gender-affirming care, as well as the “fraudulent insurance coding” that was used to pay for it.

On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance, standing alongside HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Assistant Secretary Adm. Brian Christine, announced the release of “Wolves in White Coats: How Doctors and Hospitals Pushed and Profited from the Fraud of ‘Gender Medicine.’” The report details how doctors and hospitals convince children to undergo sex changes for profit. [Hospitals maning money out of ‘gender affirming healthcare’ Who’d have thunk it?]
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August 16, 2026 8:33am
sungsamning

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/08/ukrainian-prosecutor-joe-biden-fired-investigating-hunters-burisma/
Ukrainian Prosecutor Joe Biden FIRED for Investigating Hunter’s Burisma Just Exposed $350 BILLION in U.S. Taxpayer Dollars Meant for Ukraine Going Straight to Globalist Networks.
Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, the official Joe Biden publicly threatened and forced out of office in 2016, claims in his book Biden’s Corruption and War: The True Story of the 1 Billion Dollar Prosecutor that hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars connected to Ukraine were recycled through political interests and “globalist networks.”

According to a Blaze Media column citing Shokin’s first-person account, massive sums of U.S. aid intended for Ukraine were recycled through political and globalist networks.

He alleges $350 billion in American taxpayer money was diverted into these opaque channels amid the chaos of war. Arms deals were tainted by corruption.

Wartime disorder allegedly facilitated trafficking of Ukrainian women and children. The book paints the conflict itself as a vehicle for enrichment and influence far beyond the battlefield.

Shokin was the prosecutor general investigating Mykola Zlochevsky and Burisma Holdings, the same corrupt energy company that put Hunter Biden on its board and paid him an eye-watering salary for “expertise” he didn’t have.

Shokin says his office was moving against the company, seizing assets, and getting uncomfortably close to the Biden family connections. That’s when the pressure campaign from Washington intensified. [ooh! What a naughty prosecutor. Getting in the way of the usual suspects making a few bucks on the side. I bet the ‘City’ wre ticked off. And now the USAID money is gone too. What’s next for grifters?]
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August 16, 2026 8:34am
Yvette

Excerpts from the article Artemisia links to –

The Act Party is proposing to remove “good employer” requirements from public service legislation, while also prohibiting agencies from resourcing any cultural or spiritual practices in the workplace.

Act would also legally enforce that public services base their delivery of services on “need, not race”. That’s currently laid out in a Cabinet circular – essentially a formal notice – but Act would put it into law.

The next step in Act’s plan is to prohibit public service agencies from “initiating or resourcing cultural or spiritual practices as part of the workplace”.

However, when it came to “cultural and spiritual neutrality, right now there is no safeguard for a worker who wants to just go and do their job and not be forced to affirm beliefs or participate in rituals that they don’t actually want anything to do with”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2026-acts-public-service-reset-includes-removing-good-employer-requirements-enshrining-need-not-race/PVUPNVGLLFAETDEFZSV3WCXSVE/

~~Thank God for that!~~ … um … this is great
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August 16, 2026 8:41am
robertmacculloch

Strange how Kiwiblog is so reluctant to debate how we are now governed by a Coalition of Racists. Peters made an overtly racist statement in parliament. Lux agreed it was. Seymour doesn’t know what racism is. Both are happy to work with the man who wants Chinese ethnicity Kiwi citizens to leave. Doesn’t that mean they’re happy to partner with a racist for the benefit of their own careers, power and money? From what I read when studying World War 2, many Germans worked for the Fuhrer not necessarily liking his racist speeches, but for the benefit of their own careers, power and money. In other words NZ is now governed by a Coalition of Racists.

How ironic it is that they will have to beg Ms Wong for a deal should they wish to retain power. She is a total class above Luxon, Peters and Seymour. In another league. Her uncle, the brilliant Jilnaught Wong, who is one of my former Econ, Accounting & Finance colleagues, is one of the smartest, most decent, loyal, hard working, successful business people I’ve ever known. Does the Coalition of Racists want him go back home, even though his home is NZ? The only question is whether one of the Board Members of the Free Speech Union will try to stop this comment being published. NZ’s right is gone, lost its moral compass, and needs total reform.
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August 16, 2026 8:46am
- wsk12345
  
  If we are calling out racists, let’s start with all of TPM, most of thr Labour Party and all of thr Greens. If thr coalition only has a couple, well in this environment that seems like a win to me. Why hasnt it been called out on KB? Because thr left has normalised racism in politics.
  
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  August 16, 2026 12:20pm
- ISeeRed
  
  You’re right: every government body, law and policy with the word “Māori” in it should be abolished.
  
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  August 16, 2026 12:26pm
rouppe

Interesting.

A Swiss tomato grower hung 1,736 solar modules inside his greenhouse directly over the rows, and they take only the infrared the plants never use, so the crop came out 1 percent up and the pickers started working under them because it was cooler https://www.autonocion.com/us/swiss-greenhouse-solar-modules-tomatoes/
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August 16, 2026 8:56am
- kowtow
  
  Interesting?
  
  With all the reports of global warming , unprecedented heat , glaciers disappearing and snow never to dust the Alps ever again what I’d have thought interesting is why those clever Swiss haven’t planted banana trees yet.
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:36am
- Handyman
  
  Smart thinking getting mirrors to focus light to use smaller solar panels. This will become more popular as the tsunami of heavy metal solar waste hits landfills in the next decade.
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:57am
- David Garrett
  
  Rouppe: Sorry mate, I don’t get the point you are making (a least six others clearly do)
  
  Would you care to explain?
  
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  August 16, 2026 10:44am
  - rouppe
    
    I was interested in the evolution of the technology.
    
    Most agri-voltaic installations here in NZ comprise traditional solar panels over grass, with livestock grazing grass underneath them to keep maintenance down. No light gets through those panels.
    
    In this installation (you did read it, didn’t you?) the “panels” let through the ultraviolet light that the tomatoes want for photosynthesis, and reflect the infra-red light back up to a photovoltaic collector which generates the electricity. It’s all installed inside the greenhouise, not on top of it.
    
    I found that interesting. You don’t have to, that’s ok…
    
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    August 16, 2026 11:50am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Plants only photosynthesise in the visible light range
      (400-700nm).
      
      Ordinary solar panels typically absorb visible light (as well as some UV and IR).
      
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      August 16, 2026 12:41pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    In summer greenhouses may get too hot for efficient growth of crops… so traditionally growers painted a whitewash over the glasshouse (to reflect the infrared) or installed shadecloth over the crop.
    The drawback with these 2 methods is that the whitewash and cloth also absorbed some of the visible light that is needed for photosynthesis.
    
    The example linked to above concerns solar modules that not only reflect just infra-red light but cunningly focus the reflected ir onto a solar cell to produce electricity.
    
    The upshot is: *the temperature of the greenhouse is cooled
    *The plants carry on photosynthesising efficiently
    * Electricity is produced by the set-up.
    
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    August 16, 2026 12:01pm
  - kowtow
    
    Talking of too hot to handle.
    
    I saw an article in the UK Daily Telegraph last week about a plant nursery in Britain importing southern European oak seedlings as now climate change , that was the only reason given , was making it impossible for the mighty English oak to survive in Britain.
    
    Interesting.
    
    But wait , there’s more.
    
    English oaks are in trouble , but not from “climate change ” alone .
    
    ‘Acute oak decline’ they call it.And has many causes.
    
    https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/tree-pests-and-diseases/key-tree-pests-and-diseases/acute-oak-decline/
    
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    August 16, 2026 12:56pm
    - CJames
      
      You do know the Engish oak is a species (Quercus robur or pedunculate oak) that extends all over Europe and down to all of France and much of Italy, don’t you. It currently thrives in those hotter regions. UK is at the northern extremities of its range.
      So your “story” is just the latest hype about climate boiling (TM) that has no science behind it.
      
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      August 16, 2026 2:42pm
      - kowtow
        
        ‘So your “story” is just the latest hype about climate boiling (TM) that has no science behind it.’
        
        Er that’s exactly what the point of my post was. What was the point of yours.
        
        .
        
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        August 16, 2026 3:39pm
- greybeard
  
  1. The crop would probably vary naturally by at least 1% from year to year anyway.
  
  2. Pickers would probably be just as cool if they had umbrellas or parasols for shade instead of solar panels.
  
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  August 16, 2026 11:34am
  - rouppe
    
    1. Sure, but the point wasn’t to increase the yield, it was to not reduce the yield because of shading.
    
    2. Seriously? Most pickers need two hands to be effective.
    
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    August 16, 2026 11:53am
Sir Cullen's Sidekick

Kiwiblog Bros – Get ready for three years of tax, tax, tax and spend , spend, spend rule by Labour, Top, Commies and racists. I have already got two offers from Oz, but asked them time until November first week.
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August 16, 2026 9:11am
peterwn

Seems TV1 news has started the election campaign already, judging by various ‘news’ items which would probably not have occurred if the Left was in power.
Hospital plumbers are probably on high alert to quickly fix routine plumbing faults that could cause sewage to run down walls.
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August 16, 2026 9:15am
- Prince
  
  Carefully crafted ‘survey’ by ‘ Te Ira Tāngata: People’s Agenda’, purporting to show renters are being screwed by unscrupulous profit-seeking landlords, etc etc etc. You know the drill…
  No details on who ran the ‘survey’, who they targeted, what the questions were. No one cares, least of all TV One News.
  
  Defund the Media.
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:37am
rouppe

Sometimes there’s no winning.

Regarding renting, all you hear here is that with no cause terminations, you’re constantly worried you’ll get evicted for no reason. I’ve yet to read a story of such an event with genuinely, “no reason” being the cause.

Tenants must have “certainty of tenancy” they say.

Then we have this family who have moved to Florence for work:

The tenant is responsible for everything: from the insurance, to repainting the whole place when moving, to replacing and maintaining everything. While there is stability in renting, (typically contracts are at least four years), it comes with the downside of having to give a six-month notice to the landlord, and technically it’s not possible to leave early unless you meet one of three specific conditions defined by law, and no guarantee of being allowed to move early without penalties.

Now that’s a regime when I was a landlord I could have supported.
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August 16, 2026 9:16am
- artemisia
  
  Agree rouppe – a reason for a tenancy termination does not need to be stated. Though that is nothing like the same thing as no reason.
  
  (There is a possibility a tenant can have termination reversed if they can show in the Tenancy Tribunal it was in retaliation for exercising their tenancy rights.)
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:40am
- Southern Raider
  
  Then on the other side is the KO tenant story today
  
  Repeatedly warned to clean up the KO house and kept getting extensions to eviction notices. When KO was finally able to access the property they needed hazmat suits
  
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  August 16, 2026 11:40am
  - artemisia
    
    I read the Tenancy Tribunal decision. Sounded to me like mental health was at least part of the issue.
    
    It has been reported that more than 600,000 adults experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in just the four weeks prior to the survey. (Health Survey (NZHS) 2024/2025).
    
    Not surprising if they are over represented in social housing. Nor that those providers should be responsible for their well-being. Referral yes, maybe multiple times, but then what are the housing providers supposed to do.
    
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    August 16, 2026 12:54pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Yes. The property owned by you and me was so filthy that KO staff donned hazmat suits to clean it up. The tenant had been evicted.
    
    Just remember, come election time, that under Labour no such eviction would have happened, as it was their policy not to evict tenants, ever, no matter what.
    
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    August 16, 2026 12:56pm
kowtow

Very sympathetic article in todays Herald by Open Justice reporter Katherine Hutton re a failed prosecution against a Mongrel Mob member and gang insignia .

The msm doesn’t appear to be on side with decent members of society at all.

Very strange, perverse even.
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August 16, 2026 9:42am
Notsofast

All 4 parties on the left are united in their call for cunning part maori control of the economy and the country.
Numbers 4 and 5 on the TOP party list are radical maori activists.
The left coalition will be voted in by teachers, academics, nurses, doctors the judiciary and youth.
A lot of their support comes from the income guaranteed from cradle to grave, where confidence the state will tax and borrow to pay their salaries is implicit.

A clear choice this election for a New Zealand that showed promise.
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August 16, 2026 9:42am
Northshoredoc

The Opportunities Leader looking very very out of her depth on Q&A.
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August 16, 2026 10:00am
Ghost

A good look at the timeline for the reflecting pool

Article

On July 31, the US Justice Department, which initially brought the charges against Hearn, submitted a motion to have the criminal charges against him dismissed.

Government lawyers claimed that, only after they had charged Hearn, did the Department of the Interior provide additional documents showing the damage was “the result of botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by the DOI”.

The motion filed to the DC Superior Court said the peeling was due to “a rushed and flawed installation process”.
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August 16, 2026 10:53am
Nūhaka Native

Now TOP are the ‘new kingmaker’, according to our media and some of the polling.

David Seymour on Ryan Bridge’s show on the Herald recently. On potentially working with TOP and about TOP’s policies, saying, “having a land tax as well as income tax and GST? No, that’s not happening”. But he doesn’t rule out working with them.

https://youtu.be/fcU87fIClBk?t=86

Qiulae Wong from TOP speaking with Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB, saying we will give out bottom lines on a land tax and UBI in a few more weeks and how they want a ‘seat at the table’.

https://youtu.be/h4mpqFDRFKo

In other words, as Groucho Marx said: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.”
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August 16, 2026 10:54am
Southern Raider

I was blow away last night and almost choked on my dinner.

OneNews had a positive story about revitalisation in Greymouth and accredited a lot of it to the resurgence in West Coast mining.
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August 16, 2026 11:04am
- R
  
  Must have been an editorial mistake.
  
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  August 16, 2026 1:00pm
- lifesgood
  
  Saw that and gave three cheers. Wonderful news.
  
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  August 16, 2026 5:00pm
Jethrod

If you want a Right leaning Government.
All around X or Twitter if you prefer.
The Smart Move:-
Vote National in your electorate.
Then use your Party vote for either ACT or NZFIRST.
There will be an overhang and the Coalition will be back in Government.
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August 16, 2026 11:13am
- AitchW
  
  And we need to repeat this at every opportunity.
  Tactical voting on the right will keep a Labour led coalition out.
  
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  August 16, 2026 1:34pm
- rouppe
  
  I’d be doing that anyway.
  
  Because the Mana electorate is more red than a Mongrel Mob dining room (Barbara Edmonds is the Labour candidate) and National have the biggest chance compared to the other candidates of unseating her. Still no chance, but a bigger chance.
  
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  August 16, 2026 2:08pm
Yvette

Public service jobs should go to the best person, regardless of race. So ACT will end race-based influence in hiring decisions. Simple.

Government services, such as healthcare, should go to people based on need. Not ancestry. So ACT will write that into law, giving real teeth to what’s currently only an expectation.

Public servants shouldn’t be expected to take part in spiritual practices like prayer or karakia simply because they work for the Government. ACT will prohibit public service employers from initiating or resourcing spiritual practices as part of the workplace. Individuals have complete freedom to practise their religious beliefs in their own time. – an ACT news email
________________

In New Zealand, state and state-integrated school teachers are part of the wider state sector and education service, but they are technically not core public servants. While the government funds their salaries and sets broad employment terms, they are directly employed by individual school boards rather than a government department

■ If ACT will prohibit public service employers from initiating or resourcing spiritual practices as part of the workplace, will that apply to persons when the government funds their salaries and sets broad employment terms?
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August 16, 2026 12:57pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Hallelujah!

The elected government of Ontario decided to rip out 12 miles of cycleways that block traffic. The effort was blocked by unelected cycling advocates, on the grounds that the decision was unconstitutional.

Excuse me? I know nothing of Ontario’s constitution but would be more than surprised if cycleways were a guaranteed constitutional right.

The court agrees with me.

“The court of appeal judges in their decision wrote that there is no charter right to bike lanes and the government is free to change legislation on the lanes if it wishes. They explained that courts cannot find legislation unconstitutional because (just because) experts predict the government’s policies will fail”.

I hope our government will take note of the principle and put all self-righteous advocates back in their boxes.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/14/ontario-free-to-axe-toronto-bike-lanes-regions-top-court-rules
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August 16, 2026 1:38pm
mw

Is TOPS new donation policy saying that a new party can’t come in to politics like they did on the funding of a multimillionaire that wanted his own party in parliament?

Ironic that the party founded and paid for by one rich guy doesn’t want rich guys giving too much. Gareth Morgan has given them $2.3M
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August 16, 2026 2:03pm
Jethrod

Here is an opinion piece by Bruce Cotterill in the Herald about essentially, Chris Luxon
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/christopher-luxon-leadership-national-caucus-coup-attempt-overshadows-election-issues-bruce-cotterill/premium/P6PWAHBB3VAR7HFS7P5H3LQP5E/
A read for EVERYONE!

[Paywalled]
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August 16, 2026 3:02pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

A piece of a 700 year old waka looks to have found a home in Takaka. All good, except I hope that the local iwi do not claim ownership. In the last 700 years, one iwi has replaced another a number of times in Golden Bay.

http://Www.1news.co.nz/2026/08/16/tasman-home-for-historic-waka-confirmed/

http://www.ngataonga.org.nz/search-use-collection/search/40183/
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August 16, 2026 3:48pm
CJames

I see the Herald is trying to stir up a campaign to get a realease for a murder who was 17 when he stabbed someone multiple times whose car he wanted to steal. It was a calculated and planned killing.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/life-sentence-stands-for-teen-killer-shaun-karauria-behind-hawkes-bay-murder-of-sandeep-dhiman/T6TZ7CKCPJG7XEXCSU773C4TII/

He got a life sentence seven years ago and now thinks it was unfair. Really? His original sentence was no parole for only 12 years. Fortunately. his appeal was turned down.
How about justice for the murdered person’s family? Or don’t they count?
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August 16, 2026 4:52pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  He’s probably hoping that folks have forgotten the senseless violence he committed….. and he’s probably hoping that folks have as little regard for Indian workers as he and his friends had.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/105406048/the-mindless-and-brutal-murder-of-sandeep-dhiman
  
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  August 16, 2026 7:01pm
Hugh Jarse

Jack Tames interview of Quilae Wong this morning is worth a watch. It focussed on their political donations policy, UBI policy and tax policy. She was struggling with Tames questioning and the highlighted hypocritical impacts of TOPs policy’s.

Smiling cutely didn’t seem to work on Jack today.

Having trouble posting a link sorry but it’s on YouTube and TVNZ On demand, sorry.
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August 16, 2026 5:49pm
- mw
  
  I thought the interview did press her quite a bit, it was not an easy ride for her.
  Towards the end she managed to spend her surplus twice. Once on tax flight and then on covering the public servants if the didnt cut them but moved them. Its not a surplus if you expect you might spend it withpolicy, especially if you just mention it could be spent twice.
  
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  August 16, 2026 6:28pm
- Jethrod
  
  Helen Clark had a bit to say about this, saying in her inimitable way that “the interview with the TOP leader was a train wreck”, and I don’t think that was Jack Tames fault.
  Also “Fantasy posing as policy”
  
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  August 16, 2026 9:21pm
rouppe

The Maori Party is telling Maori to vote for TPM candidates in the Maori electorates and Labour or Green for party votes in order to get more Maori MP’s.

This only works because there are two electoral rolls.

There must only be one.
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August 16, 2026 6:03pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  So basically TPM is just another wing of the Labour Party, or is it that the Maori Labour MPs are really TPM acolytes?
  
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  August 16, 2026 7:13pm

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