General Debate 28 August 2026

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David Garrett

Good morning from the Kingdom…another cool morning up here…20C as I write while I eat breakfast
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August 28, 2026 8:05am
Yvette

If Te Pāti Māori does not submit a list, there is no overhang
“Not many people know that”

Te Pāti Māori, he says, also has another option on the table – one it has not yet confirmed – but it may choose not to submit a party list.
[Newsroom senior political reporter Marc Daalder] says he’s asked co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer several times whether the party will submit one.
“She said, look, we’re focused on the candidate vote now, we haven’t made a decision on that.”

And the option matters because of a quirk in the Electoral Act, Daalder says. If Te Pāti Māori submits a list, wins four seats and receives, say, one percent of the party vote, it could create an overhang and a Parliament of 123 MPs.
If it does not submit a list, there is no overhang.

“You end up with a Parliament of 120 seats, four of them are Te Pāti Māori MPs, and everyone else’s share of the pie through the party vote is distributed among the remaining 116 seats.”
That would still be disproportionate – “and in fact, more disproportionate.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics_election-2026/1155859/the-vote-that-could-change-parliament

I haven’t recently heard Willie Jackson rave on about “the tyranny of the majority” – maybe he can see that the “the tyranny of the minority” would now be thrown back in his face.
________________
( Michael Caine never actually originated the famous catchphrase “Not many people know that”—it was invented by his friend Peter Sellers doing an impression of him.
Does that mean Michael Caine still said it? )
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August 28, 2026 8:13am
Cassandra

The bed tax: it is a proposal to impose a 2.5% levy on hotel and motel users. It is promoted by the mayors of Auckland and Queenstown. It applies to all visitors, not just foreigners. The aim is that visitors should contribute their fair share.

It’d have to apply to every motel in the country. Why should I pay 2.5% when I visit Auckland but an Aucklander will pay nothing when he visits Tauranga or Eketahuna?

And why should staying with friends exempt visitors from paying their “fair share”?

It’s a daft idea, rightly rejected by the Coalition. I can understand Mayor Brown’s enthusiasm. He gets lots of money at no political cost. Someone else pays that. It’s still a daft idea.
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August 28, 2026 8:16am
Tomtoddy

Ian Taylor attacks Seymour for wanting to change our legislation involving the constitution and the judiciary. Taylor regards the ACT’s 8.64% of the Party Vote as not being sufficient leverage for them to intervene in such weighty matters.

He seems to conveniently overlook the fact that the country voted in MMP to give small parties greater influence. If the junior partner in a coalition cannot take initiatives of their own, then the very rationale for MMP is destroyed.

Taylor is more concerned that ACT is focused on a number of important matters and is able to gain disproportionate influence for its vote size. That may say more about the intellectual calibre of the ACT team than it does about MMP. There are few commentators who would disagree that ACT brings a high level of intelligent rigour to Parliament even if they dislike the content.

What is deeply concerning is that Taylor is stating, by omission, that our courts should have unfettered ability to inject their own beliefs and ideologies into their decisions even in our highest court. He is apparently comfortable with judicial activism where judges decide that the elected Parliament got it wrong and their own view of matters is more important.

In the Ellis case judges decided that tikanga should be included even though there were no Māori involved. There are potentially huge problems with that approach. (Unless you are a top lawyer – more time in court, more fees) The big enemy in law making and jurisprudence is “uncertainty”. Poor design of legislation and vague terms can lead to conflicting interpretation, delays in the law being applied, on-going appeals, and a very dangerous wet blanket over the economy as investment stops while the courts try to figure out a solution. But when clarity is obvious and judges take it on themselves to intervene and determine what is best, democracy is undermined and judges need their power curtailing.

Noone can define tikanga. It means different things to different people at different times. Using it as a tenet of judgements will lead to massive disruption, greater uncertainty, confusion and heartache.

Seymour is correct. Taylor is wrong. Bias has trumped reason and logic. For now.
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August 28, 2026 8:27am
- David Garrett
  
  Tom: If the junior partner in a coalition cannot take initiatives of their own, then the very rationale for MMP is destroyed
  
  Well said. We – or those who did – supported MMP to avoid the situation where Social Credit once got 20% of the vote but only two seats, and the New Zealand Party – which Bob Jones set up in 1984 – got 12% of the vote but no seats at all.
  
  It’s called representative democracy. Unfortunately along with ACT, that means we also get the looney Greens.
  
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  August 28, 2026 8:32am
- Yvette
  
  Tomtoddy – Taylor regards the ACT’s 8.64% of the Party Vote as not being sufficient leverage for them to intervene in such weighty matters.
  
  • David Seymour is well within his rights to put forward propositions, it is what he is there to do – the majority of Parliament are needed to take those propositions any further.
  And does Taylor actually disagree with [1] Government governing, [2] property protection and [3] all New Zealanders having equal rights and responsibilities?
  
  Taylor is more concerned that ACT is focused on a number of important matters and is able to gain disproportionate influence for its vote size.
  
  • Has Taylor denounced the Maori Party ploy on electorate votes and perhaps not putting forward a Party List to not term any seats they win as “overhang” and that to slightly reduce Parliament proportions beyond their electorate move? (would the Maori Party be able to pull the same stunt if there were not the special Maori Seats?)
  • Would Taylor support Sharia Law as well as the Supreme Court inclusion of tikanga – the Supreme Court having awaited the opportunity of the appropriate case (and Ellis v R wasn’t) to introduce tikanga, although since then the Te Papa Museum Treaty panel vandalisation case has been dismissed because tikanga would have resulted most likely in a Not Guilty verdict?
  Ian Taylor may be a brilliant graphic presenter through his America’s Cup and sports animation systems, but the level of logic required for that is not wildly apparent in his political expressions.
  
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  August 28, 2026 8:56am
kevn

More UK migrants heading this way?
https://dailysceptic.org/2026/08/27/i-give-up-and-you-might-as-well-too-britain-has-made-striving-pointless/
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August 28, 2026 8:33am
- artemisia
  
  Thanks for posting that link, Kevin, very interesting. And also very alarming even if only some is true (not suggesting that is the case).
  
  The numbers in the article receiving disability funding from tax payers is a serious concern, in particular the increase recently.
  
  Among psychiatric cases assessed over the last five years, the great majority fall into five groups: mixed anxiety and depressive disorders, mood disorders, ADHD-type conditions, autism spectrum disorders and anxiety disorders. In January 2025 there were 587,000 people receiving the PIP daily-living component whose primary condition was anxiety and depression, while another 75,000 had ADHD or ADD..
  
  And there others under another scheme.
  
  In New Zealand (census info) nearly a million have a disability. Not all will receive government funding, but plenty will and that is the case in my own extended family.
  
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  August 28, 2026 8:57am

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