General Debate 27 August 2026

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Yvette

The Electoral Commission is now insisting that anyone wishing to be involved in this election must, in its own words, “agree to learn about our values and grow your knowledge of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the workplace”

The body that is supposed to be scrupulously neutral is taking a very clear position on the Treaty of Waitangi. Make no mistake: this is a political position, right down to the use of the term Te Tiriti o Waitangi rather than the Treaty of Waitangi.

Anyone offering their services must go through an interview process, and at this stage applicants are required to agree to these conditions. In reality, they are not being asked. They are being compelled – Don Brash
https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/don-brash-is-the-electoral-commission-no-longer-neutral

Requiring election workers to learn about Te Tiriti o Waitangi can be viewed as a valid workplace standard or an inappropriate political hurdle, depending on one’s perspective:
To supporters, it represents basic civic literacy and professional development appropriate for a public agency operating in a bi-cultural constitutional framework.
To critics, it represents an unnecessary ideological test that risks compromising the strict operational neutrality required of an electoral regulator.

Since that does nothing to resolve the matter of Treaty knowledge expectations, consider an example: that of the current Prime Minister and the one who preceded him, if instead of being the object of the Election, both were applying for Election assistant positions –

Hipkins has very publicly stated Maori did not cede their sovereignty to Queen Victoria, while Luxon says Maori did cede sovereignty to the Crown.
So, which of these two could-be applicants would get an Election assistant position?
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August 27, 2026 8:01am
- Cassandra
  
  It’s as if the last election is irrelevant. Is the head of the Public Service on holiday? This sort of nonsense was supposed to be rooted out.
  
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  August 27, 2026 8:07am
- David Garrett
  
  Yvette: I find this very disturbing. How on earth can a three paragraph document which doesn’t mention anything about elections possibly be relevant to these positions? Answer: It can’t and it’s not.
  
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  August 27, 2026 8:08am
  - Yvette
    
    David, a difficulty with the Treaty is that for many people it is a “sacred founding document of the nation” but also a hopelessly flawed document – an exceptionally badly written real-estate agreement – which doesn’t even establish who has the authority to run an Election – either the Government through the Electoral Commission or an Iwi collective entity, and ‘collective’ is even an anathema.
    
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    August 27, 2026 8:28am
    - David Garrett
      
      Yvette: I don’t want to bore everyone with a law lecture, but prior to Cooke’s decision in 1987, it was what lawyers call “settled law” that the “treaty” was no such thing.
      
      Since 1877 – in the case of Wi Parata v. Bishop of Wellington the then Chief Justice held that because Māori society at the time was viewed through a colonial lens as “primitive barbarians,” there was no sovereign body capable of ceding sovereignty, and the treaty was a nullity because it had not been incorporated into domestic law.
      
      Wi Parata remained settled law for 110 years until 1987, when Cooke declared it “our founding document”. And because Geoffrey Palmer had not outlined what the “principles” of the treaty were in section 9 of the SOE’s Act, the Court of Appeal helpfully invented some. And the treaty gravy train was off and running…and it still is.
      
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      August 27, 2026 8:40am
      - Yvette
        
        David, the phrase describing the Treaty of Waitangi relationship as “akin to a partnership” originates from the landmark 1987 New Zealand Court of Appeal case New Zealand Māori Council v Attorney-General (commonly known as the Lands case or SOE case).
        
        Apparently the exact quotes are:
        Justice Casey: Stated, “I have spoken of what I perceive to be a relationship akin to partnership between the Crown and Māori people…”
        Sir Robin Cooke: Wrote that the Treaty created an enduring relationship “of a fiduciary nature akin to a partnership” and “signified a partnership between races.”
        
        The Distinction – “akin to” vs “is”
        Legal scholars and constitutional commentators frequently highlight this phrasing to point out that the Court did not declare the original 1840 Treaty was literally a legal partnership. Instead, the judges used “partnership” as an analogy or metaphor to describe the legal duties that arose under the principles of the Treaty—specifically, a mutual obligation to act toward each other reasonably and in the utmost good faith.
        
        Critics of modern co-governance models (such as legal scholar Prof. Elizabeth Rata and former judge Anthony Willy) argue that the 1987 ruling was meant to describe a duty of honourable conduct and trust between sovereign and subject, rather than creating a political structure of equal co-governing partners. Conversely, proponents of Treaty principles view the decision as foundational legal recognition that Māori and the Crown must work as collaborative partners in governing New Zealand.
        
        So not only is the Treaty fraught with bad vocabulary, the Lands case is also a bit screwed
        
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        August 27, 2026 8:57am
Cassandra

People who live overseas but occasionally visit NZ are allowed to vote. They don’t pay tax here, apart from GST while visiting (so do tourists). How come they get a vote?
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August 27, 2026 8:05am
- MCōs
  
  Paying income tax is not a criteria for voting in NZ otherwise an awful lot of people here on work and other visas would want a vote
  
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  August 27, 2026 8:56am
Cassandra

I commend Oliver Hartwich’s column recommending a reduction in departments and ministers, with the ministers relocating their offices from the Beehive to the actual department.
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August 27, 2026 8:11am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Here:
  
  New Zealand has 43 government departments, 28 ministers and more than 80 ministerial portfolios. Norway, hardly a failed state, governs with 20 ministers and 17 ministries.
  
  https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/opinion/if-i-were-pm-fix-the-machine-before-the-policies
  
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  August 27, 2026 8:17am
Ghost

he was just a Sweet Transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania

Tim Curry, a character actor who created a gallery of delicious, very loony villains for stage and screen, including Dr. Frank-N-Furter in“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and the smug concierge in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” has died. He was 80.

Article

On the day I went away… goodbye…
Was all I had to say… now I…
I want to come again and stay… Oh my my…
Smile, and that will mean that I may

Cause I’ve seen blue skies, through the tears
In my eyes
And I realise.. I’m going home.
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August 27, 2026 8:30am
rouppe

Remember that guy who claimed he’d applied for 5000 jobs and couldn’t get anything? The big sob story in the Herald?

They had to correct their story when it was discovered he’d spent 20 years in a US prison for kidnapping a woman and sexual assaulting her.

Guess what? He’s done it again. Here.
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August 27, 2026 8:32am
rouppe

Holy smokes. The video of the flash flood in Nepal is terrifying.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/361025340/kiwis-among-hundreds-missing-deadly-torrent-sweeps-through-nepal
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August 27, 2026 8:59am

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