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October 19, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 19 October 2026

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Rail fool Dave MacPherson, not content with championing the Hamilton – Auckland money pit train-set, is now doing likewise in Christchurch. “All we want is the same level of subsidy as up North” and “the rails are already there” are two of his soundbites.

As is well known, the Te Huia train is significantly patronised by Gold Card holders travelling for free. The subsidy per passenger is enormous. In the name of equity (shudder), MacPherson wants to spend more taxpayer money on an unpopular service.

While the Canterbury rails may be there, the signals, railway station buildings suitable for a passenger service, a ticketing system and the trains themselves most certainly are not.

I tell you what, Dave. If the fare box take covers 100% of those costs then you can go ahead. But, it won’t.
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October 19, 2026 8:01am
- ISeeRed
  
  I know who loves riding trains: Indians! We’ve all seen the videos. Just import 10m Indians. The trains will be well patronised. We’re already well on the way. Thanks National and ACT!
  
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  October 19, 2026 10:53am
  - imalwaysright
    
    What a ridiculous thing to say.
    Are you equating the trains on some lines in India, where they ride on top and on the sides, with NZ Indians using the NZ rail services?
    
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    October 19, 2026 11:15am
    - Ian
      
      Can you not see jest for what it is?
      
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      October 19, 2026 11:55am
      - imalwaysright
        
        “I know who loves riding trains: Indians!”
        
        I’m Irish, I’m an expert in humour.
        And so are Indian people…
        Just don’t take the piss.
        
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        October 19, 2026 1:06pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      Humour is ridiculous. That’s the point. Humour can also be used to expose uncomfortable political truths.
      
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      October 19, 2026 12:18pm
- greybeard
  
  Imagine this:
  500 people get on an early morning commuter train from Rolleston to Colombo St.
  
  20 mins later they get off and walk to work.
  At 5:30pm or so the same 500 get on the return journey.
  That represents at least 400 cars off the road for those journeys, and no need to park them in the city all day.
  
  During the trips they can connect to the internet and do things.
  
  What is there not to like ?
  
  Oh yes: I forgot, there is not just the ONE commuter trip each morning and night, there are several, which accommodate those who work at various times.
  All with the same advantages as that first example. As well as normal commuter trips during the non-peak hours. Makes sense to me.
  
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  October 19, 2026 7:36pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Grey: One minor problem: the station is in Addington, at least 5kms from the CBD
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:23pm
- graham71
  
  The main problem in chch is the location of the train station to the CBD is over 4 kms
  
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  October 20, 2026 5:27am
Cassandra

An election is an “advanced auction of stolen goods” according to H. L. Mencken.

Pretty accurate summary of what is happening in New Zealand right now. Promise the earth, get someone else to pay for it, sooner or later.
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October 19, 2026 8:03am
- David George
  
  It’s worked before, it’s an easy sell to the envious loser. It’s always ended in disaster but they think, if they think at all, that it will be different this time.
  
  “A Green Party economist is basically like a flat-Earther astrophysicist” Melissa Chen.
  
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  October 19, 2026 8:15am
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    There’s a reason Envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins…
    It is more destructive to the envious person than the person they envy.
    
    Likewise, hand-out culture is more destructive to the recipients than the people being taxed to make it happen.
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:24am
    - David George
      
      Envy – Resentment – Murder: the road to hell, same as it ever was.
      Ignore the biblical warning of “Cain and Able” and you get the Holodomor and the Cultural Revolution.
      
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      October 19, 2026 8:42am
      - David Garrett
        
        Abel
        
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        October 19, 2026 8:52am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        For an avowed atheist, you’re certainly up with the Good Book, David
        
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        October 19, 2026 6:07pm
    - Paulus
      
      In our minds we believe that the simple factor from what we have learned over some 50+ years in New Zealand whilst Envy yes, but Greed to us is prevalent
      Watch people at a selve serve restaurant and what they put on their plates.
      Greed -never !
      
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      October 19, 2026 9:26am
    - R
      
      ‘more destructive to recipient’……the NZ MSM don’t think so, judging by their commentaries.
      
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      October 19, 2026 9:43am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      To be fair I don’t think many are “envious” of the (most often) obnoxious wanker lifestyles of today’s rich and famous.
      
      Most just want the kind of life that was available 50 or so years ago. You had a job and could buy a house and raise a family, in relative safety. Now we he a very complicated shit show dominated by devious and rapacious corporations, where hope for the future looks pretty dim for most.
      
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      October 19, 2026 3:12pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        I couldn’t agree more. The ability to buy a house on Dad’s salary while Mum stays at home to raise the kids while affording a car, groceries and a camping holiday at Christmas is now the preserve of the wealthy.
        
        We have sold our souls for a mess of pottage.
        
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        October 19, 2026 6:11pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I have shut off from the whole thing.
  
  France today is a great example of what happens if you ignore the important economic and public policy problems. Eventually there is a day of reckoning.
  
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  October 19, 2026 8:38am
  - kowtow
    
    Nonsense.
    
    That’s a bunch of well looked after brats demanding more and more , joined by enemies of the French Republic , the left and now straight up criminals.
    
    No different to the “race equality,” ‘social justice’ , largely ‘peaceful’ Burn Loot Murder riots in the USA after Floyd died while being lawfully arrested.
    
    There’s a reason we have elections .And must respect that process.
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:53am
    - imalwaysright
      
      “That’s a bunch of well looked after brats demanding more and more , joined by enemies of the French Republic , the left and now straight up criminals.”
      
      So, basically the entire population of France….
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:24am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I understood none of that. Perhaps it was sarcasm which I often miss.
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:54am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Kowtow mixes rhetoric with satire sometimes.
        Don’t take it literally, its far more important than that….
        
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        October 19, 2026 11:41am
      - kowtow
        
        Poor govt decisions never justify violence .Not in advanced democracies where we settle our differences at the ballot box ,peacefully.
        
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        October 19, 2026 12:53pm
    - alwyn.a
      
      “after Floyd died while being lawfully arrested”
      Why don’t you tell it as it was.
      “after Floyd was murdered by a policeman while being arrested”
      The policeman concerned is currently serving 20+ year terms. He may be free again in 2037.
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:01pm
  - RoboRob
    
    The problem is that even the parties on the right are giving up and just throwing out lollies. $400m extra for GPs from Act, with no real description of what its for, is hardly standard Act policy. Its a lolly.
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:53am
    - mike
      
      If this continues, the National/ACT folks at the Taxpayers’ ‘Union’ will have to rename their ‘Bribe-o-Meter’ to ‘Invest-o-Meter’.
      
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      October 19, 2026 9:20am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Yes, this election is turning into a reality gameshow.
        I’m sick to death of being patronised daily by every one of these leeches.
        
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        October 19, 2026 9:30am
      - RoboRob
        
        My wife often ‘invests’ in new handbags and shoes.
        
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        October 19, 2026 9:40am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        There is indeed a difference between investing in sensible infrastructure for the future (when you can afford it) and bribing the (mostly young) gullible with failed fairy-dust (like communism).
        
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        October 19, 2026 3:16pm
  - Damocles11
    
    France is a very socialist society. When people get used to getting everything for ‘free’ and the government gets so overburdened with debt that they start taking away the punchbowl, the highly dependent population becomes enraged. We are going down exactly the same track. Nothing is truly ‘free’, eventually it becomes time to pay the piper.
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:56am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Day of reckoning Ben? I’ve spent a little bit of time in France and I’d almost say this is business as usual. The French can drive you nuts. They vote someone in who claims they will fix economic and policy problems. The only thing is, as soon as they try, the people that have voted them in start protesting against any changes! Which then of course never happen.
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:58am
    - Taieri
      
      They vote someone in who claims they will fix economic and policy problems.
      ———-
      
      Just as we do in NZ…
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:24am
      - Paulus
        
        No No
        The media today are making their views known that the election from the Polls shows that a Labour, Greens, and Occ Parties can form a Government and the current one will not net enough votes to continue the current Coaltion.
        Swarbrick wants to be Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, like Muldoon was.
        Maori Greens will not be happy with that.
        New lady Labour Leader already on the horizon so will be a shit fight with Labour Party and the Unions continuing control.
        Mark March for the next election as all will hit the first fan.
        
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        October 19, 2026 12:00pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Certainly Taieri, but we don’t then protest in our masses when the Government starts to do what they were voted in to do.
        
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        October 19, 2026 4:16pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Yes I am fairly familiar with how France works. However they will eventually just run out of money. Their borrowing costs are through the roof.
      
      As we saw with Argentina in the 20th century, a very rich country can fall. The students and farmers can riot all they want.
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:57am
      - Paulus
        
        Riot Controllers much wider than we are led to believe, from outside France !
        
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        October 19, 2026 12:02pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        New Zealand was third richest in the 1950s. Now look at us. Importing Third World dregs while our welfare state and debt explode. Don’t cry for me, Aotearoa.
        
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        October 19, 2026 12:22pm
      - Gussy
        
        I understand 1/3 France’s education budget is absorbed by pensions.
        When the stroppy youth get their heads around the ever-growing cost of public sector pension liabilities (assuming they do – they’ve previously rioted against pension reforms), civil servants could be hanging from lamposts.
        
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        October 19, 2026 1:03pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        France hasn’t had a financial surplus since around 1975 – no wonder they’re in the shit.
        
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        October 19, 2026 2:18pm
  - R
    
    Benedict. .. the people that you are trying to influence mostly don’t know where France is, or what it is!
    
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    October 19, 2026 9:45am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I have long given up trying to influence people.
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:58am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Its working…
        
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        October 19, 2026 11:45am
- imalwaysright
  
  We vote for people who decide who the Government will be.
  
  That seems like being once removed from our foundation principle of democracy.
  
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  October 19, 2026 8:58am
  - R
    
    Once…? Several degrees removed!
    
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    October 19, 2026 11:02am
- mike
  
  Mencken was remarkably prescient:
  
  “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:15am
  - David Lenny
    
    Joe Biden was senile rather than a moron, though maybe that’s a distinction without a difference.
    
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    October 19, 2026 9:25am
  - David George
    
    A bit harsh.
    Obama wasn’t a complete disaster – he had Osama murdered at least.
    
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    October 19, 2026 9:26am
    - Cassandra
      
      Green tick for both of you!
      
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      October 19, 2026 9:29am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Cassandra, do you think Osama was murdered or killed?
        
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        October 19, 2026 10:26am
    - mike
      
      If you think Obama was a moron, how would you rate the present occupant? A little smarter than his full diaper, pehaps?
      
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      October 19, 2026 9:39am
      - RoboRob
        
        Trump : Intelligent but emotionally childish and petulant. Will sometimes override doing the sensible thing because he is angry. See treatment of Ukraine.
        
        Biden : Mediocre intelligence & habitual liar. He was mediocre BEFORE he started losing his marbles. See plagiarism and lies about finishing top of his class. *
        
        Obama : Intelligent but a political schemer. Ironically massively damaging to race relations. Disappointing to all sides as he was much more a status quo then his ‘change’ campaign led people to believe.
        
        Bush : Intelligent, whilst the media created the false narrative of him being a moron (see the fake upside down book reading picture). Generally very middle of the road, seems like a nice guy (see long term friendships with many on the left).
        
        Clinton : Intelligent. Generally very middle of the road policy wise. Womanising, liar bit also very charming and charismatic.
        
        Clinton and Bush were a ‘better’ time, when US politics were much less divided.
        
        * Not a president, but Harris : Incredibly stupid. Probably selected because she was Black, a woman and stupid.
        
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        October 19, 2026 9:50am
      - Cassandra
        
        Robo: very good analysis!
        
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        October 19, 2026 10:20am
      - ISeeRed
        
        Thumbs up, Robo. All US presidents in my lifetime have been deeply flawed, Republican and Democrat alike. I personally found Obama and Clinton to be more cunning than smart but there is overlap there. Anyone who thinks a billionaire is “dumb” is telling on themselves. You simply cannot be dumb yet acquire billions of net wealth or worth. If Trump was truly dumb, he’d be living under the Brooklyn Bridge with a dead pot plant called Jeffrey.
        
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        October 19, 2026 11:06am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        RR reasonably fair analysis IMHO.
        
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        October 19, 2026 3:20pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Can’t argue with that one one Mikey…and yet another (decreasingly rare) uptick from me…
    
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    October 19, 2026 9:50am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Increasingly, I think you mean, David.
      
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      October 19, 2026 6:14pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Nevermind: No…my uptick to Mikey Boy used to be once in a blue moon i.e. extremely rarely…now they are perhaps once or twice a month ..which means they are now much less rare than hitherto, which put another way means they are less – or decreasingly – rare.
        
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        October 19, 2026 8:28pm
- Ra Henare
  
  A good reason not to have elections.
  Democracies’ biggest flaw IMHO.
  
  Unless it is a democracy with one very dominant party that doesn’t need to buy votes, as they are assured of winning.
  
  here I am thinking Singapore.
  
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  October 19, 2026 1:42pm
Scott

After church Sunday morning I got in my car and drove down to Wellington. It was a beautiful day to watch the mighty Wellington Phoenix. A very good crowd of over 8000 enjoyed a thoroughly good spectacle, the home side playing a lot better under coach Chris Greenacre and coming out the winners 2 goals to one.

The crowd absolutely roared when Phoenix scored the first goal. They took off their shirts with ten minutes to go and waved them around furiously. And in extra time everyone stood and clapped and willed the Phoenix on for the win. It’s so important to get the crowd involved. Wellington Rugby union take note. Playing loud music throughout the rugby game kills crowd involvement and ruins the spectator experience.

Afterwards I sat outside at Dockside with a beer and a very nice steak on a Sunday special. No wind, lots of sun, a beautiful view looking out on the harbour.

You just cannot beat Wellington on a good day. 😎
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October 19, 2026 8:05am
- imalwaysright
  
  “They took off their shirts with ten minutes to go…”
  
  Why have 75% of the male population, under 30, a beer gut?
  
  Its fucking shameful the state of young men these days.
  
  No wonder they are hand bags.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:22am
- gravedodger
  
  Except Scott every team did this year in the NPC on good days and bad ones, should they have stayed at Jerry Collins in Porirua rather than return to the Cake Tin now renamed Hnry because the cost of vowels is too great//.
  
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  October 19, 2026 1:48pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

On balance I support the initiative to remove the right to silence in respect of the murder of children.

The right to silence is long standing for a reason, and hard cases make bad law. But, there are many things we legislate for differently specifically because children are vulnerable.

Of course, people cannot be compelled to speak – no one is advocating use of the rack here. The law change would mean that in the absence of answers to questions, judges and juries are able to infer guilt.

Thinking on Baby Ru, for whom none of the three adults in the house have been held responsible, such a law would help bring justice.
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October 19, 2026 8:08am
- wsk12345
  
  It’s a shame it takes desperation at election time to deal to issues such as this.
  
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  October 19, 2026 10:24am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Yes and no. Changing the right to remain silent is one of those fundamental rights issues that politicians should seek a mandate for.
    
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    October 19, 2026 12:27pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  The UK version of the Police statement re right to remain silent is here: I would support a change to this across the board, not just for child killings.
  
  The arrest caution regarding the right to remain silent in England and Wales is governed by PACE Code C. Unlike the American “Miranda rights,” remaining silent during a British police interview is not cost-free.
  
  The exact standard wording used by officers is:
  “You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
  
  So if you decline to make an explanation at the time of arrest or charge, any bullshit you come out with later in court may be focused on by the prosecution and a Judge and jury when considering the credibility of you explanation.
  
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  October 19, 2026 10:28am
  - David Garrett
    
    Hugh: I have long thought the PACE warning is what should be used here. AFAIK no party has ever campaigned on it…ACT might have, back in the day…but to the best of my knowledge they never did.
    
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    October 19, 2026 2:26pm
  - KKNZ2025
    
    The alternative outcome of remaining silent is that there are no statements made under conditions of injury, medication, shock, stress, uninformed legal rights & perspectives etc that can & have been be taken out of context / in isolation & used against you by Police who are definitely not your friend.
    
    Name, address & DOB is all thats required – only after arrest or detained / driving stop.
    
    More National virtue signaling to the masses from an unprincipled party with no interest in protecting basic rights that evolved over centuries for good reasons
    
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    October 19, 2026 4:03pm
- R
  
  ‘cannot be collected………. perhaps the p problem could be that the witness needs time to collect his/her thoughts. I suggest that a quiet place be provided for the required period pf contemplation, in which to focus the memory; a warm cell in solitary in a nearby Police Station may help
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:11am
- Ra Henare
  
  Reminds me of Grocho Marx.
  
  “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.”
  
  Taking away rights to silence is the thin edge of the wedge.
  First, it’s SUSPECTED. Child murders
  
  Then what?
  
  It has often been said that judgements based on emotion are the poorest way to decide. Remember, that’s how you got a sole Jacinda Governmnet.
  
  Reason tinged with emotion is so much better.
  
  This proposal to remove a right from suspected baby killers is IMHO pure emotive vote-buying.
  
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  October 19, 2026 1:48pm
- gravedodger
  
  NMTB why just a certain age group, even some dead adults deserve justice sometimes.
  
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  October 19, 2026 1:50pm
- rouppe
  
  There are laws present to help with the Kahui situation.
  
  Originally I thought they should all be charged “as a party” to the murder, but AI tells me the conditions for that are too difficult to prove. Specifically aiding, abetting, Inciting, Counselling, or Procuring.
  
  However police could:
  
  Failing to Protect a Child (Section 195A, Crimes Act 1961)
  
  This charge is specifically designed for the “no one is talking” scenario. If an adult is a member of the same household as the victim or a staff member of an institution where the victim resides, and they know a child is at risk of serious assault, ill-treatment, or neglect, they have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to protect that child.
  • The Outcome: If they fail to take steps (like calling police or medical services) and the child dies, they can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, regardless of who delivered the fatal blow.
  
  There is also
  
  Manslaughter by Omission
  
  If an adult has a legal duty of care over the child (such as a parent, step-parent, or legal guardian) under Section 152 of the Crimes Act, they are legally required to protect that child from injury. If they stand by silently and allow another person to fatally abuse the child, their failure to act can elevate their liability to manslaughter.
  
  That would be harder I think, I’m not sure who of the four adults accused were actually present at the time.
  
  I’m not comfortable with removing the right to silence, even if it’s presented in the limited context of a child murder. It would then become irresistible to expand into all manner of other areas.
  
  I think they’d be better off going the route of making joint culpability more available generally. That would loosen mouths.
  
  But with the first option, 10 years isn’t far off a manslaughter charge which is what they’d plead down to anyway.
  
  The impediment there being useless judges.
  
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  October 20, 2026 12:09am
cmm (semi-retired edition)

Three years since Baby Ru became a playmate for Cris and Cru Kahui.

Nobody held accountable for any of this.

“He should be getting ready to start school, meet his teacher and make new friends. Maybe he has a brand new lunch box and backpack.”

More like something from an op shop and a least effort approach which would mean no pre-meetings with teachers etc.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/baby-rus-death-why-is-it-taking-so-long-to-hold-anyone-accountable/VUIS7KD4INF3BEENUI6KFW66EI/
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October 19, 2026 8:08am
- Gravelroad
  
  Perhaps the Green Party and TPM ladies could ask their gangland friends and associates to look into this for them?
  Not saying that what happened to this boy is necessarily gang related, just that they said they are very family and community minded and just want to right wrongs etc………
  
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  October 19, 2026 8:18am
  - David George
    
    The gangs are the real victims according to the Greens.
    “Green MP Hūhana Lyndon and candidate Michel Mulipola, who visited the Mongrel Mob gang pad and posed for photos, are listed as collaborators on a video and a caption that labels the response, “It’s racism and white supremacy dressed up as respectable politics.”
    
    The video ends with gangs being “on the front line of paying a price for an illegal government that shouldn’t even be on our land.”
    
    A sitting MP and a party candidate effectively calling the elected govt of NZ illegal, while campaigning to sit in Parliament, is extraordinary.
    
    This is an explicit rejection of the legitimacy of the current govt, paired with framing a major organised criminal gang as resistance to that “illegal” govt.”
    https://x.com/Suitandtie9999/status/2111302880108130676
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:30am
    - David Garrett
      
      DG: And the silly middle class ladies who lunch will keep voting for them. You can forgive the youngsters: they don’t know any better.
      
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      October 19, 2026 8:55am
      - David George
        
        Suicidally empathetic middle class ladies: ‘they’re just very naughty boys’.
        Harry Tam in 2020:
        “In our day we did the f*** what we liked and we got away with it”
        
        “Come September this year there is going to be this thing called a general election and we all know the leader of the National Party is ganging up on us”
        
        “We can turn in to twenty or thirty thousand votes”
        
        “We don’t need to take this shit from these c***s”
        
        “Register to vote otherwise that motherf***er will get in and your lives will be hell”
        
        “We’re the mighty f***ing Mongrel Mob and we don’t take shit from any c***, and why should we take it from them”
        
        “Sieg Heil to the Mongrel Mob for another 1,000 years”
        
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        October 19, 2026 9:19am
      - imalwaysright
        
        “Suicidally empathetic middle class ladies.”
        
        Why NZ is spiralling into penury and misery.
        
        9 1
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        October 19, 2026 10:40am
      - ISeeRed
        
        And plenty of Boomers tacitly support this with “Two ticks blue!”
        
        1 4
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        October 19, 2026 11:11am
      - Boy Geoff
        
        From the evidence of that mob video meeting the friendly MPs, it appears a number of those present clearly have no difficulty obtaining kai.
        
        Are gang members really victims of society and neocolonialism…?
        
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        October 19, 2026 12:05pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        The suicidal-empathy/luxury-beliefs twits can be kept out by hiring on merit only and nuking DEI and ESG everywhere.
        
        0 1
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        October 19, 2026 3:22pm
      - rouppe
        
        Affluent
        White
        Female
        Urban
        Liberals
        
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        October 20, 2026 12:16am
    - KKNZ2025
      
      Oriini Kaipara “I see them as whanau”.
      
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics_election-2026/2018789/te-pati-maori-s-oriini-kaipara-on-gangs-i-see-whanau
      
      I see them as feral lawless outlaw thugs by choice & its unfortunate that outlawry was removed from statute (less than a century ago)
      
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      October 19, 2026 4:13pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Cool, Oriini. Take them home & give them a good meal (and a drink or two). I’m sure that they’ll be exemplary house guests.
        
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        October 19, 2026 6:18pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    That’s a good idea. Get a few gang members to talk to the three that were in the house and maybe they can get the answers.
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:40am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Didn’t the Police stand back while Peter Sharples inserted himself into a double murder investigation of the Kahui children ?
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:44am
- David Garrett
  
  cmm: That’s if the “parents” took him to school at all. No woman who calls herself a mother should remain in a gang household. They are as bad as the scum they let fuck them.
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:51am
  - imalwaysright
    
    There are more laws protecting animals in this country.
    And they are policed and enforced.
    
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    October 19, 2026 10:46am
    - cmm (semi-retired edition)
      
      Unless they are pets in gang households…
      
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      October 19, 2026 12:27pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        If you were a cat in a Mongrels household, you’d want to be a good mouser.
        
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        October 19, 2026 6:50pm
Yvette

John Raine: The Left is Up for Co-Governance – Could this Mean a Future Ethnocracy? [1] writes –
… the ongoing emergence of rights by race, rather than equal rights for all under the law, take us in a destabilising direction. It is important that all understand the consequences that follow such a cultural reshaping of our country.

So far in relation to this, ACT expresses a policy to restate the Government has the right to govern, the equal rights and responsibilities of all New Zealanders, private property protection and state (secular, neutral) constraints on spirituality.

The position of likely coalition partners, New Zealand First and National, seem to have so far made no definitive position on these points.

Since a Left Bloc Coalition would range from entrenching the ambiguous Treaty to a Treaty Commission, the advance of He Puapua and co-governance, ethnocracy (state control by a dominant ethnic group to further that group’s perceived interests, power, dominance, and resources) should be a major issue at stake in the November Election.

… the ongoing emergence of rights by race, rather than equal rights for all under the law, take us in a destabilising direction. It is important that all understand the consequences that follow such a cultural reshaping of our country. [1]
________________
[1] https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/john-raine-the-left-is-up-for-co-governance-could-this-mean-a-future-ethnocracy
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October 19, 2026 8:19am
- Yvette
  
  And to indicate what a disaster ethnocracy could be, consider that the division this creates, would as an absolute initial component require some definition of who is Maori and who is not, and self-definition would likely not be acceptable – so what would be?
  
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  October 19, 2026 8:23am
  - pdm
    
    Have a listen to Takuta Ferris on the subject in this almost 16 minute interview by Jack Tame on Q & A I think yesterday.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgSjQ9yGY6g
    
    Note – interview covers more than shared/co goivernance.
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:45am
    - Nobby2
      
      pdm. No thanks got better things to do with my time. Ferris is a loser.
      
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      October 19, 2026 3:01pm
  - Blog-aholic
    
    Rwanda is considered to be an ethnocracy.
    They deny it.
    But history tells a story about how ethnocracies operate…….
    
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    October 19, 2026 8:53am
  - R
    
    ‘what would be….?…genetic composition at birth.
    
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    October 19, 2026 11:15am
- KKNZ2025
  
  National have maintained their definitive position on a NZ racist ethnostate for 50yrs: “nothing to see here”.
  
  Continuous appeasement from eg. Bolger, Key, Mapp, Finlayson, Luxon…medical school positions, hospital treatment priorities, embedded public service recruitment & spiritualist practices, facilitating capture of Education, Local govt & regulatory authorities (RE agents FFS), wilful failure to support the TPB…
  
  Nothing to see here.
  
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  October 19, 2026 8:35am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Yep. National’s record is revolting.
    
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    October 19, 2026 11:12am
cmm (semi-retired edition)

Metaphorical story:

An irate man turns up at the Mitre 10 service counter demanding a refund.
Man: “I bought this umbrella. It doesn’t work. I want my money back, and some compensation because I got wet.”
Clerk: “But you didn’t even open the umbrella. It still has the sticker on and it is still in the bag. How is an umbrella supposed to keep you dry if you don’t even open it?”
Man: “So what? The umbrella should have kept me dry anyway! I demand compensation! And it is racist, because white people stayed dry.”
Clerk: “Ummm, the dry people actually opened the umbrella. Whether they were white or not has nothing to do with it.”

A preposterous story. But isn’t this pretty much what we see all the time?

That’s exactly the scenario we have with Maori claiming systemic racism because the system does not work as well for them as it does for other people.

The system can only work for you if you get off the couch and use the resources. Put in some effort. You will get results.

Heck, most of the time you’re getting the “umbrella” for free! And there are even services to open it for you.
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October 19, 2026 8:20am
Simon

Every person I speak with who works for a private company not connected to govt loathes Labour. Ordinary small business people and their employees.

Where there are vulnerabilities are young people competing for jobs with mass third world low wage immigration. Then of course the bone idle on welfare and working in vast numbers of useless govt departments. Speaking with people who work in govt agencies you have not heard of where they produce nothing and they are luke warm on National led govt.

As bad as the economy and National govt are NZ isn’t third world enough yet to vote in Labour.
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October 19, 2026 8:32am
- ISeeRed
  
  In Hamilton we’re leading the way to Aotearoa’s Brave New Third World. On top of all the Indians and various other South and East Asian nationalities, I’ve noticed a large uptick in African and Middle Eastern women and children lately, including women in full hijab lately. WTF are these people doing here? Like, literally? Are they working? What jobs are they doing that locals can’t? Or if they’re not working, what jobs are their African and Middle Eastern husbands doing that “Kiwis refuse to do”? Utterly maddening.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:18am
  - Sir Henry Morgan
    
    Some will be “refugees” – something else that has become a rort.
    
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    October 19, 2026 2:25pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    They probably want to be within easy traveling distance of Auckland but don’t want to pay the rental prices.
    
    That said, we’ve got booming populations in and around Christchurch too. I live a block over from the Bishopdale Afghan Centre. They have outgrown that and are building a mega-facility on 5 acres out near Hallswell (according to an Afghani taxi driver I spoke with)..
    
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    October 19, 2026 6:59pm
- R
  
  The real problem is, …that there is too much ‘third world thinking’ out in our electorate, and I am not referring to the immigrant population.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:19am
- rouppe
  
  Every person I speak with who works for a private company not connected to govt loathes Labour
  
  A minority then…
  
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  October 20, 2026 12:20am
cmm (semi-retired edition)

This dude should put the cherry on the top of his scamming career by becoming a Green MP.

After a list of scams so extensive that the judge refused to read them all out, he ended up with time served and a non custodial sentence.

C’mon dudge. These people might have a shitty past but they are destructive to society. Lock em up!

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/serial-conman-whaiora-galvin-targeted-auckland-bay-of-plenty-businesses/CYLTOKBHZZBJ3LBJVT37NV4RWQ/
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October 19, 2026 8:32am
- imalwaysright
  
  “…non custodial sentence.”
  
  Go to your room, you’re grounded.
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:08am
Bobba Fret

Does anyone know when the next poll is out?
I want to see the devastating fall of the Green party and TPM after their visits to the mongrel mob to buy their votes.
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October 19, 2026 8:50am
- RoboRob
  
  We can but dream. As I mention below, I think very few Green voters would even know about the gang story.
  
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  October 19, 2026 10:44am
- Paulus
  
  March 2027 as no 2026 result can be found.
  
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  October 19, 2026 12:09pm
- Paulus
  
  Media will not let that happen as it does not continue in their quest !
  
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  October 19, 2026 2:21pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Check the pulse of the NZ lefty young on Reddit and you find they are quoting lefty approved “reports” which tell them that political parties befriending (lefty approved) murderers, rapists, hard drug importers and terrorists is the way to integrate the said crims back into society. Look, a unicorn! 🦄
  
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  October 19, 2026 4:18pm
kowtow

A very dangerous policy.

Removing the right to silence .
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October 19, 2026 8:57am
- R
  
  Not speaking up;…’implied perjury’ (not telling a truth) is a much more dangerous policy. Particularly for the victim, and society in general.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:23am
  - kowtow
    
    No , we have a long standing convention that one is innocent until proven guilty , chip away at that at your peril.
    
    I agree that victims and society loses out in these few and rare cases .
    Arguably the piss weak sentencing and parliament allowing all manner of crim hugging , drug adles society in general creates way more victims and destruction to society than these one or two extremely rare cases , which in themselves do not justify this populist precedent.
    
    And much of that is within their reach to fix without overturning long held legal conventions.
    
    I suspect the “tough on crime” Nats don’t want long sentences due to the cost of lock up.
    
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    October 19, 2026 1:57pm
RoboRob

I see that after giving up on individual property rights, National have now given up on freedom if speech / the right to remain silent. While I have total destain for the relatively tiny number of people that don’t assist in criminal cases, Goldsmiths latest election lolly is stupid. A few high profile cases around children and we just turf core parts of our justice system. Why just cases around children, why not rape or murder, what about elder or animal abuse? Hell, while we are at it why not get rid of the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and replace it with ‘believe all women’? That would be popular wouldn’t it?

Luxon of course is all in, ‘removing gang patches was against the bill of rights and we pushed it through, we can do it again’.

This is what happens when you have no principles except holding onto your job.
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October 19, 2026 8:59am
- imalwaysright
  
  “A few high profile cases around children and we just turf core parts of our justice system.”
  
  We don’t have a justice system.
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:17am
  - Nobby2
    
    You are right, I have long held belief that we have a legal system not a justice system.
    
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    October 19, 2026 3:13pm
- David Garrett
  
  Robo: Yours is the “slippery slope” argument which is often invoked against new policy; but you make very valid points in this case: abolish the right to silence for one offence and arguments would immediately begin in favour of making another exception.
  
  And you have disdain for people who don’t co-operate with police old boy…not that other thing which isn’t a word.
  
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  October 19, 2026 10:03am
  - RoboRob
    
    Thanks 🙂
    
    I have heard a guy on the radio this morning arguing in favour of the changes. He made a somewhat valid point. He was essentially arguing for the right to silence to be removed entirely. I am no lawyer but I imagine there are good reasons for it. However I think that’s a totally different discussion and one I would be much less critical of. These changes feel like blatant feel good electioneering rather then serious reform.
    
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    October 19, 2026 10:27am
    - imalwaysright
      
      The problem is that the victim is generally under 24/7 control of the suspect.
      
      That in itself needs some flexibility for the Police to gather evidence.
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:53am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    What? No word “destain”? I thought it was like defence. As in “I jumped defence”. And my wife washed my shirt to get rid of “destain”.
    
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    October 19, 2026 10:44am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      That’ll be the Vino Rojo. Try Vanish OxyAction – works a treat!
      
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      October 19, 2026 12:31pm
- R
  
  Robo,…..HONEST people have nothing to fear, from the latest National Party Law and Order announcement.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:27am
  - RoboRob
    
    Stunning that you should use that as your defence of their policy.
    
    ‘First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
    
    Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
    
    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
    
    Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.’
    
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    October 19, 2026 1:31pm
  - Taieri
    
    HONEST people have nothing to fear
    ————-
    
    Heh, the old “if you’re innocent you have nothing to be afraid of” raises its ugly head again.
    Be careful what you wish for.
    
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    October 19, 2026 2:27pm
  - KKNZ2025
    
    Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.
    
    Edward Snowden
    
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    October 19, 2026 4:17pm
  - rouppe
    
    Common culpability should be more available.
    
    1. Person is in their house
    2. Four people walk into the house
    3. There is a single gunshot
    4. The four are arrested but all refuse to speak, or worse, each of the four name one of the other three.
    
    No murder conviction because no one can prove who fired the shot.
    
    So joint culpability unless compelling corroborated evidence is produced.
    
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    October 20, 2026 12:26am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  There is the right to not self-implicate, but there the counter argument is that everyone can just go mum and cover up.
  
  The counter to that is to charge everyone who knew something and failed to speak up with accessory after the fact. That could earn up to 7 years in a murder case.
  
  But our pissy system does not charge people for this even though the laws are on the books.
  
  I am generally opposed to adding new laws until the current laws have been proved inadequate. You can’t really say the current laws are inadequate if they are not applied.
  
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  October 19, 2026 1:00pm
  - gravedodger
    
    Yes Yes cmm, there is a law that makes failing to enroll on the electoral roll that is totally ignored at every level hence the outcry against the closing of the rolls this year 13 days early to make the election day less cumbersome for the people employed on election day and make progress for a quicker count.
    Am I correct in that voters turning 18 in that 13 day window will still be able to “special vote”?
    Any law so widely ignored at every level is very bad Law?
    
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    October 19, 2026 2:07pm
    - cmm (semi-retired edition)
      
      If a law is no longer used as a law (ie. no longer enforced), then just get rid of it.
      
      You can enroll if you are 17 so long as you are going to turn 18 on or before voting day. No need for special votes. AFAIK, it has been that way for a very long time.
      
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      October 19, 2026 5:26pm
- Simon Arnold
  
  As someone observed today the analogous provisions already exist for serious fraud (with suitable provisions covering the interview process). The point was also made that that it was targetting witnesses not suspects. The latter retain their right to silence, and any admissions obtained through application of this law would be inadmissible.
  
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  October 19, 2026 3:10pm
Gary Benner

On the NewstalkZB website this morning Andrew Dickens bemoans the split voting aspect of MMP.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-split-voting-is-undemocratic/

He states “… this jiggery pokery and attempts to game the system which just seems undemocratic to me”.

Well I have to ask the obvious question, then why do we have the option of two votes? If this was not considered part of the way MMP works, then why was it put there in the first place?

Calling it “undemocratic” is a little bit harsh.
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October 19, 2026 9:08am
- KKNZ2025
  
  “…jiggery pokery and attempts to game the system” are a fundamental democratic right !
  
  Clearly Dickens has forgotten FPP
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:17am
- RoboRob
  
  100%. I have been splitting my vote for the last few elections, that’s the whole point of MMP. You can vote for the candidate you like, which might not be from the party you like. I guess his argument, is people splitting their vote for other reasons is not in the ‘spirit’ of MMP. However I think that falls over too, sometimes you vote for a party, not because you like them, but to form alternate government blocks. That’s all this is.
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:20am
  - R
    
    There is nothing democratic about a voting system, that allows a percentage of the MP’s to be selected by publicly unelected executives of various political parties.
    Rod Donald and company of the Greens managed to convince the media, and thus the public to accept this rortable system; instead of the much more DEMOCRATIC STV process. Granted, that the STV system requires the ability to read, understand, rationalise and think before making a simple mark on a piece of paper,
    
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    October 19, 2026 11:38am
    - gravedodger
      
      Bit harsh to Blame the Late Rod Donald, there were just far too many voters who failed to see the dog tail wagging being set up for A certain part Maori leader of a party who has taken full toll on the flawed system.
      Rod only had his one vote back then , and the stupid and the inane voted a second time for the MMP rort.
      
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      October 19, 2026 2:11pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Agree. Having two votes means that split voting is a feature, not a bug.
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:23am
- Spam
  
  Crikey. I’ve been committing undemocracy for probably the last 5 elections.
  
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  October 19, 2026 10:47am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  MMP was the careful consideration of – I assume – pretty intelligent political wonks.
  
  Therefore we must assume that MMP was designed as it was on purpose – and not by accident. The ability to vote split/ create overhang is a feature not a bug.
  
  So to are the very weird things that can happen when a by-election can cause a seat to change parties, but the proportional rule then undoes any change in the power balance.
  
  Indeed it would have been much easier to design MMP without the overhang issue by not having the elected members eat into the proportional seats. Designing all the overhang rules took extra effort.
  
  MMP without overhang would be simple:
  There is a fixed number of elected members and a fixed number of list members.
  You have 2 votes: one elected member (FPP), one for a party list (proportional).
  The only small print needed is stuff about thresholds.
  
  I would go as far as to bet 50 cents and a servo pie that at least 30% of voters could not accurately describe how the MMP rules work.
  
  Simpler is (almost) always better.
  
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  October 19, 2026 12:43pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    @cmm (semi-retired edition) @ 12:43PM
    
    As I pointed out to you on 3 September, here, https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2026/09/a_different_mmp.html/comment-page-1#comment-3876271, your system is not MMP; it is a version of the semi-proportional Supplementary Member (SM) system, which has been rejected twice before — in 1992 and 2011.
    
    Under SM, proportionality is determined only over the List seats, whether that be 49 (as suggested by Taieri), or 30 (as suggested by the 1986 Royal Commission).
    
    In the unlikely event that New Zealand again changes its electoral system, I propose we adopt STV in large electoral areas, each electing 10 or 11 MPs. Under such a system, ninety percent of the voters would be represented by someone they voted for, and all MPs would be directly accountable to the voters.
    
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    October 19, 2026 4:58pm
Observant Octagenarian

I see Winston is going to install commuter train services from Rangiora and Halswell into Christchurch.
Does he know that Christchurch train station is no longer located in Christchurch City, it is out in the suburb of Addington.
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October 19, 2026 9:19am
- RoboRob
  
  Is he seriously proposing that? What an absolutely crazy idea. I know lots of people love trains and I have friends in Rolleston who argue there should be a train from there to the CBD too*. What they all forget is that these services run at huge losses, because insufficient people use them. All that happens is that rate payers who dont use the service end up paying for someone elses trip. Have people not heard of buses? They do that same journey but at much less of a loss and the route can easily be altered.
  
  Dont buy votes with my rates thanks Winston.
  
  * There is already a bus service from Rolleston to the CBD too.
  
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  October 19, 2026 10:32am
  - KKNZ2025
    
    …& excellent 7day bus service from Rangiora to Christchurch (via Kaiapoi/Belfast)
    
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    October 19, 2026 12:05pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    The calculations have been done here a few times that it would be cheaper (and generate less CO2) to replace the Hamilton/Auckland train service with subsidised helicopter flights.
    
    I haven’t done the numbers for Rangiora & Rolleston but I think they’re a tiny bit better.
    
    Still, the buses seem pretty good and have priority lanes during rush hour.
    
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    October 19, 2026 12:47pm
- Sane Voice
  
  Trains would be useless for commuters. They would turn the 40 minute commute into a 2 hour ordeal, twice a day.
  
  Trains are outdated technology. They belong in the era of sailing ships.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:38am
  - AitchW
    
    They are good for bulk movement of commodities, and for non time sensitive general freight.
    Also for inner city commuting.
    Slow and expensive for intercity passengers
    
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    October 19, 2026 12:59pm
    - Taieri
      
      Slow and expensive for intercity passengers
      ————
      
      Perhaps in NZ because we have small population and an antiquated rail infrastructure.
      I was travelling in Europe last year, entirely on the trains. Fast (up to 250 km/h), clean, comfortable, reasonably priced and very convenient, both for intercity and regional travel. Far better than buses and, considering time needed to travel to airports and check-ins and so on, very competitive with short distance flying.
      
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      October 19, 2026 2:34pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  It doesn’t really matter because, since the earthquake, Christchurch isn’t where it used to be either.
  
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  October 19, 2026 12:44pm
  - gravedodger
    
    Some, a very few really, consider Christchurch died that sunny afternoon on February the 22nd 2011.
    It is now Otautahi kei Te Wai Pounamu, Aotearoa ?
    Please keep up//
    
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    October 19, 2026 2:19pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Indeed, if the station was where it once was it is shortish walk to the centre and to the new stadium. No parking needed……
  
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  October 19, 2026 12:49pm
  - RoboRob
    
    But no passenger trains anyway 🙂
    
    I think they do run a temporary train service to that area when big events are on. However the cost is $25 one way. At that point its cheaper and quicker to get an Uber.
    
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    October 19, 2026 1:35pm
MCōs

We haven’t had a situation as we have now when the voting public has realized the two main parties are so bereft of the vision needed to cope with both a country in the doldrums and America being led by such a dangerous president.
Furthermore
Everything could get even worse if the GOP loses badly in the midterms days before our elections and Trump is threatened with certain impeachment
Suddenly everyone is shit scared if the minorest of minor parties and doing everything they can to make out how radical they really are.
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October 19, 2026 9:26am
- RoboRob
  
  Isn’t it sad that the Dems have moved impeachment to a political weapon to be used whenever you get the chance, rather then a serious tool? It will be interesting to see of the GOP follow the trend and run continual impeachments against the next DEM president. I would note they did not against Biden.
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:58am
  - mike
    
    Republican representatives, including the Speaker, made multiple attempts to impeach Biden.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efforts_to_impeach_Joe_Biden
    
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    October 19, 2026 10:04am
    - Cassandra
      
      For good reason. The poor guy was losing the plot.
      
      10 5
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      October 19, 2026 10:25am
      - mike
        
        By the end of his presidency he was nearly as bad as Trump.
        
        4 15
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        October 19, 2026 10:31am
    - RoboRob
      
      There is a big difference between investigating, as the Reps did, and actually attempting to impeach (formal docs and process).
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:34am
      - mike
        
        There were 17 impeachment resolutions.
        
        4 10
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        October 19, 2026 11:16am
- ISeeRed
  
  Dangerous president? Biden left office four years ago. Try to keep up.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:25am
  - Taieri
    
    Biden left office four years ago
    ————
    
    Bide left the office before he assumed it. He was a ga-ga even then.
    
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    October 19, 2026 2:36pm
- Quail
  
  RR,
  MMP, yet again ,
  Splitting the vote has the effect of reducing the impacts of voters intentions , ie . a bob each way .
  Each MMP vote has 50% of the effect had by a voting system with a single vote.
  That is just what bureaucrats and their politicians wanted .
  Election manifestos get binned as the “ winners “ concoct new promises in consultation with the former opposition post polling day.
  The motivation to continue with the split vote is clear , Governance is weakened , along with elected politicians powers , so the growing bureaucracy can manage NZ for their own benefit.
  MMP does not benefit genuine honest politicians, who face a the scrutiny of the ballot and are doing their best for NZ. It does reduce their ability to achieve and ,conversely, empowers parties and their bureaucracy.
  This election it is imperative that voters exercise ALL their rights, including split voting ,so hopefully Parliament is forced to reconsider the undemocratic mess that is MMP.
  
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  October 19, 2026 1:13pm
Tauhei Notts

In 1993 when we were contemplating a vote for MMP there was a man, Peter Shirtcliffe I think, who campaigned against it.
He envisaged a system where split votes could cause a big worry.
33 years ago I thought he was exaggerating. But then National and Labour picked awful leaders. An unthinkable scenario 33 years ago.
Now look what has happened. Shirtcliffe (?) was ahead of his time.
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October 19, 2026 9:44am
- Ian Boag
  
  He envisaged a system ….
  
  He solemnly promised that his lobby group – “Campaign for Better Government” – would be around forever. After the referendum it vanished without trace.
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:54am
- David Garrett
  
  Tauhei: Yes, Shirtcliffe was his name IIRC.
  
  But I am going to surprise you and say I am in favour of MMP despite it meaning that the looney Greens sometimes get to form part of a government. But people on the right forget that without MMP – and its coat-tailing provision – ACT would have died out after Rodney resigned.
  
  As Churchill said of democracy: ” the worst form of government except for all the others which have been tried”. MMP is democratic; FPP wasn’t.
  
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  October 19, 2026 9:59am
  - mike
    
    Churchill actually said:
    
    Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time
    
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    October 19, 2026 10:09am
  - Cassandra
    
    I’m sure there’s a better proportional system than MMP.
    
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    October 19, 2026 10:27am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: There may well be…I have very little knowledge of proportional systems other than MMP. Remind me: Did the last referendum just offer a choice between retaining MMP or reverting to FPP or were there other options offered? IIRC it was the first – and people clearly indicated they preferred a democratic electoral system over what we had before.
      
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      October 19, 2026 10:35am
      - Jack5
        
        Without MMP, some political battles would be fought within FPP parties.
        
        The 2011 vote on whether MMP should be retained was: 57.8 per cent in favour, 42.2 per cent against.
        
        New Zealand’s population size suits experiementing with voting systems, and there are plenty of options, and chances to invent new ones.
        
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        October 19, 2026 11:20am
      - crash
        
        From a Google search (with cites)
        —
        New Zealand held two main referendums in the move away from First-Past-the-Post (FPP) to Mixed Member Proportional (MMP):
        • 1992 Indicative Referendum (September 1992): A non-binding poll held to see if voters wanted to keep or change the FPP system.
        • Question 1: 84.7% voted for a change in the voting system.
        • Question 2: Voters chose their preferred alternative from four options. MMP received 70.5% support (well ahead of the other choices: Single Transferable Vote, Preferential Voting, and Supplementary Member).
        • 1993 Binding Referendum (November 1993): Held alongside the general election, this was a direct, binding run-off choice between the status quo (FPP) and the top alternative from 1992 (MMP).
        • Result: 53.9% voted for MMP, while 46.1% voted to retain FPP. This official vote triggered the legal repeal of FPP and the adoption of MMP for the 1996 election
        —
        
        So MMP was selected as the preferred option twice. However this was in a era with dominant support for National and Labour, but that dominance is now much reduced.
        
        I would be happy to see an examination of STV options, which I believe is justified by declining popularity of National and Labour contributing to the emergence of larger numbers of overhang seats generated by Labour and/or National winning more electorate seats than their party vote support awards them.
        
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        October 19, 2026 1:34pm
      - gravedodger
        
        Mr Garrett, the second non binding, indicative vote in 2911 asked two questions.
        1 support for retaining MMP won with 57%
        2 what system was preferred where almost 48% wanted FPP only narrowly less than the Combined vote for STV 18.7, MMP @24.4 and PV @12.5. total a considerable reduction to the 57%.
        Muddy waters won handsomely when the intellects of voters is considered.
        
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        October 19, 2026 2:37pm
  - R
    
    David, MMP is not democratic, we, the plebs, don’t get to chose who the anointed LIST MP’s will be; and they will determine our governance. Remember 2020!
    
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    October 19, 2026 11:47am
    - Taieri
      
      Even the FPP is essentially a plebiscite, because candidates are selected by the party machine and voters have no say on such selection; all we can do, is either vote for them or not. The biggest failure of any system is the absence of a mechanism to recall an elected MP if he/she fails to adequately represent his/her constituents.
      
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      October 19, 2026 2:43pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Yes and then there is the post election shit show where the population waits for the lucky dip of which coalition will be formed.
      
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      October 19, 2026 4:20pm
David Garrett

A great quote from Seymour on the Nats potentially working with TOP:

“If it keeps the Labour Party, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori from running New Zealand from a gang pad, that’s probably a good thing.

Our host ran a piece of his a couple of days ago which showed that Green voters have pretty much the same negative view of gangs as voters for all other parties. It will be interesting to see what effect the gang pad visit will have on the Greens’ level of support…sadly not much I suspect.
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October 19, 2026 10:28am
- RoboRob
  
  When the media continues to focus on TOP and if Luxon will work with them, there is little coverage of the gang stuff outside of political tragics like us. I suspect most Green voters have no idea about the gang links. Hell many Green voters still think the Greens are an environmental party.
  
  p.s. I note the new big story is that Luxon is doing voter suppression.
  
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  October 19, 2026 10:40am
  - Jack5
    
    The Opportunity Party, re-branded from The Opportunities Party, needs one more re-brand: The Media’s Party.
    
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    October 19, 2026 10:53am
    - ISeeRed
      
      Maybe the Photo Opportunities Party?
      
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      October 19, 2026 11:27am
      - JJ56
        
        The Opportunists Party as I noted the other day.
        
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        October 19, 2026 3:18pm
David Garrett

Robo: I am continually amazed by the number of people I come across – some of them as old as me – who still think the Greens are primarily an environmental party.
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October 19, 2026 10:49am
- ISeeRed
  
  I now end potential friendships on this metric alone. Someone who is either so uninformed or so ideological to support the Greens is not someone I want to freely associate or socialise with.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:28am
  - David Garrett
    
    Isee: I am the same as you…and with moon landing deniers, especially ones who are old enough to know the answer to the perennial question: “Why did they only go once?”
    
    (For younger readers the Yanks landed on the moon six times between 1969 and 1972)
    
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    October 19, 2026 3:54pm
- David George
  
  They’ll probably be voting Green because the weather was a lot better when Jimmy Shaw was in charge of it. Something like that.
  
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  October 19, 2026 11:54am
  - Inandout
    
    DG, the biggest factor is not feelz about the climate, it is the dearth of alternative views such as found on the internet. I am amazed at how many of my friends absorb MSM news to such an extent they are unaware of other sources. They exist in a bubble that warmly feeds them the 6pm news, just like back in the day when we routinely rushed inside to view.
    
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    October 19, 2026 12:09pm
    - David Garrett
      
      Inand: Oh yeah, back in the day when Dougal Stephenson was reading it the 6pm news was compulsory viewing for most of the country.
      
      Other than at other people’s houses I haven’t watched it for 15 years now.
      
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      October 19, 2026 4:24pm
Fisiani2

This Election is different from ALL the other MMP elections.
At 28% in the polls, ,if that is true at the election then National will gain ZERO list MP’s. None at all. They will already have too many electoral seats. That means that every Party vote for National is a WASTED vote. I know that is an incredible statement but this time it is true. To increase the chance of the current coalition getting back then the stratetegy is clear. Electorate vote National but party vote ACT or NZF. The more National voters who ditch the two ticks blue strategy the bigger the majority. Incredible but true.
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October 19, 2026 1:21pm
- waripori
  
  You posted this yesterday and I replied which I have attached. This should be a two way street,
  This is a two way street. If you subscribe to David Farrar’s patreon you will have seen his break down of potential outcomes in all the electorate seats. The % of ACT voters who vote National in seats ACT has no chance of winning is 50% ish. If they genuinely think a candidate other than the National one is better than fair enough I guess but this year if they want National voters to give ACT their party vote they have to vote electorate vote blue every where except Epsom and maybe Tamaki. The % of NZ first voters who elctorate vote National is well under 50% and the % who vote electorate Labour is quite high. NZ First will win no electorates so there is no reason to electorate vote anything except National anywhere. This will make a difference in Electorates like Mt Albert and maybe Wairarapa and Hutt South. I think ACT get this from their advertising. Not sure what NZ First are telling their supporters.
  
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  October 19, 2026 4:52pm
Ra Henare

It will be an interesting and, I suspect, quite a different world come Christmas.

Election silly season from now to then.

NZ Elections
USA Mid Terms
Israel Elections
Brazil General Election/Presidential Runoff
Spain

and a number of others.
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October 19, 2026 2:00pm
NZer In Exile

Well worth a read.
Why Feminized Institutions Stop Telling the Truth (15 min Video): From Liam DeBoer: https://youtu.be/hfcTpF-fum4

PS I posted this the other day then realised I posted well after Kiwiblogger bed time (7pm ish 😛).

Solution IMHO? Merit based hiring only. Absolutely no DEI/ESG BS. Yes there are very competent women (I’ve worked with plenty). There are also a lot of woke dingbats who should never have been hired into their positions.
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October 19, 2026 3:01pm
MCōs

Lot of blokes aren’t too flash either
Many people base their judgement of someone’s capability on whether they are male/female, fat/thin, pakeha/asian/Polynesian or some other factor that has no bearing
Singapore Airlines certainly does, as opposed to AirNZ when it comes to cabin staff.
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October 19, 2026 4:08pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Yes there are certainly woke male sycophants (and even woke cheerleaders). Many blokes know they are working in an insane woke clown show but also know they will be fired/demoted/harassed as soon as the open their mouths in protest. So they keep silent in order to feed family/survive. Again, same solution; Govt ban DEI/ESG with extreme prejudice and enforce hiring strictly on merit only. Let the chips fall where they will.
  
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  October 19, 2026 4:25pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361048363/intoxicated-lawyer-censured-after-appearing-drunk-court
We have had drunk female lawyers on here before !
“Her disciplinary history was described by the tribunal as a matter of “serious concern”, with the practitioner herself characterising her past record as “awful”.”
Place your bets, gentlemen !
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October 19, 2026 7:20pm

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