Last night I and a number of NZ Against Hamas members attended what was for me one of the most entertaining events of the last 12 months: a mass protest of a few hundred Kiwi Iranians against a dozen or so elderly communists who turned up to a meeting in Mt Eden War Memorial Hall in Auckland against American and Israeli military strikes on Iran. (That’s not an exaggeration: I only saw about a dozen people turn up, although I suppose more might have sneaked in the back to avoid being booed by the Iranians.)

We live in a crazy world

I’m not sure what was most hilarious: white people in Socialist Aotearoa t-shirts yelling at the Iranians for supporting the strikes, a Kiwi Iranian giving a speech condemning the commies for their “white saviour complex”, Kiwi Iranians shouting “Thank you Bibi, thank you Trump!” in gratitude for the strikes on Iran (a left-leaning Jewish member of NZ Against Hamas who was standing next to me commented with amusement that she thought the Iranians liked Bibi a lot more than she did), Kiwi Iranians shouting “Come out terrorists!” at the end of the event so that they could boo them, or Kiwi Iranians dancing for joy to “Ayatollah is Dead, Khamenei is Dead!” blasting rhythmically from a loudspeaker to music.

There’s stuff that needs reporting on

As much as I enjoyed myself, one of the NZ Against Hamas admin team told me afterwards that he watched the live stream of the event online, and some things were said that need drawing to the attention of the New Zealand public. If we had a competent media I wouldn’t have to write about this here on Kiwiblog, but as usual the only thing the media bothered to report on is that there was a brief physical scuffle between one of the Iranians and one of the commies outside.

The speeches were outrageous

The speakers explicitly said that they want the Islamic Republic to win, that they don’t think it is totalitarian (event organiser Suha Aksoy literally said “Totalitarian regime? I don’t accept that! I don’t accept that!”), and that education for women in Iran is “as good as it gets”. Every time these absurd things were said, a roomful of “peace activists” applauded. Aksoy also criticised people who are on the fence, saying that: “By undermining with this both sides of the fence attitude, very silly attitude in my opinion, if we do that, we are weaking our comrades. Comrades in this anti-imperialist fight. At this point in time we do not have any option but to support Iran… this war must be won by Iran!”

Here’s the footage

NZ Against Hamas uploaded the relevant section of footage to our public Facebook page, view for yourself: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1592232115261293

Communist hypocrisy

I note in passing the sheer hypocrisy of communists criticising the US and Israel for military strikes on Iran to effect regime change, ostensibly in the name of respecting national sovereignty and of opposition to violence, when on the other hand communists seek to overthrow governments everywhere via violent revolution.

Twyford praised the group

But while the unhinged opinions of the local communist cell in its latest anti-war iteration do not come as any particular surprise, what concerns me is that just 10 minutes after Aksoy spoke, Labour Party MP Phil Twyford thanked the group for organising the meeting, and said “I must say, I’ve really enjoyed listening to all the contributors.”

The Labour Party needs to distance itself from fringe politics

I reiterate for emphasis: Phil Twyford said “all” the contributors, which logically includes Aksoy. In my view it is grossly inappropriate for a Labour MP like Phil Twyford to praise this garbage. It is the sort of thing I would expect to hear coming from a Green MP. I am deeply concerned that through people like Phil Twyford these views could enter the mainstream and that is why I am calling it out here and now. The Labour Party should immediately and publicly distance itself from fringe and extremist politics.

The Greens have published their draft list, voted on by delegates. It sees several MPs dropped to probably unwinnable places.

Steve Abel has the biggest drop from 9 to 14. He is probably the most environmentally focused MP in their caucus, so I guess he hasn’t done enough campaigning on Gaza.

Scott Willis drops from 12 to 16 – unlikely to be back on that.

New MP Mike Davidson may have a short tenure – going from 19 to 22.

The Greens appear to have successfully eradicated straight white men from their likely caucus. On current polling they get 13 MPs, none of which will be from that endangered minority! They almost managed to eliminate straight white women also, but one snuck through.

The latest data from Stats NZ on how much alcohol was available for consumption, per adult, shows it has declined again – for the ninth year in a row.

This is a huge decline. 24% since 2011. Overall people are drinking less – a lot less. This will be a mixture of people drinking lower alcohol products, less frequent drinking, and fewer people drinking.

This data should have huge ramifications for public health campaigns around alcohol. Broadly one can adopt measures to overall restrict the availability of alcohol (impacting all drinkers) or adopt measures to target problem drinkers.

A 24% reduction in overall alcohol (available for) consumption shows that the focus should be on problem drinkers, not all drinkers. Overall more people are drinking responsibly and less. We shouldn’t be making it illegal to buy a bottle off wine with your groceries if doing a late night shop. We should be using alcohol interlocks on cars more, cracking down on under age sales etc.

James Meager announced:

Golden Bay Air will be the first airline to receive a loan from funding ear-marked for at-risk regional air routes, Associate Transport Minister James Meager says.

The airline will receive approximately $1.1 million from the $30 million package set aside by the Coalition Government from the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF), designed to stabilise the sector and support regional routes in the short to medium term.

I’m against corporate welfare for regional air travel. I’m against corporate welfare for regional rail. I’m against corporate welfare for ferries to Waiheke Island. Commercial reality, not taxpayer subsidies or loans, should determine routes.

“Golden Bay Air’s loan will ensure the regional airline can refinance existing aircraft debt and fund essential ongoing major maintenance checks. This targeted relief will support it to maintain flights from Tākaka to Nelson, Karamea and Wellington,” Mr Meager says.

If there must be corporate welfare, I prefer a one off grant to a loan. If the business is solid, then it can borrow more commercially. If it is not solid, then a taxpayer loans doesn’t cover the core problem. It just leads to a sunk cost fallacy that as they owe us money, we most loan them even more.

The airline has capacity for around 17,000 passengers a year. If they need $1 million they should charge $6 more per flight (which start at $259) rather than sock the taxpayers.

The Herald reports:

MP Willow-Jean Prime has lost education in a reshuffle of the Labour Party’s shadow Cabinet, with the portfolio being handed to Ginny Andersen. …

Her credibility in the education portfolio came under scrutiny last year after the Herald revealed she had initially ignored and then declined briefings on the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) change programme.

I don’t think I have ever seen such political incompetence. She ignored and then declined multiple personal invites from the Minister on a vital education issue. And then when the changes are announced, Labour claims they should have been consulted and discover she turned down every opportunity offered her.

Camilla Belich is the party’s new justice spokeswoman. Justice was a portfolio held by Duncan Webb, who is leaving politics.

Belich is competent, and will be one to watch.

Another interesting aspect of Labour’s line up is that Hipkins doesn’t seem to trust his own deputy leader with any significant portfolio. Normally a deputy leader will have one of the real heavy hitting portfolios. Cullen had Finance, King had Social Development, Robertson had Finance. Parker had Finance and AG. Ardern had Justice.

But Sepuloni has three minor portfolios – Auckland, Women and Pacific. The Auckland portfolio is just a co-ordinating role. There is no ministry or power. Women and Pacific are tiny ministries with 42 and 89 staff respectively. These are roles normally held by the no 20 ranked spokesperson, not no 2.

Why does Sepuloni not have Social Development, or Justice, or Education etc? Why does the deputy leader have basically no significant portfolios?

The vote of an 18 year old deliquent in New Zealand is as important as that of Willy Apiata.

Anyone who wants to be in government and succeed in their ministerial portfolios needs to respect every voter and all of those who cannot vote – primarily children.

It is an easy avenue for supporters of a political party to denigrate the supporters of their opponents. The most famous in recent times would be the comments of Hillary Clinton when she stated that “half” of Donald Trump’s supporters could be placed in a “basket of deplorables”.

Even on this site esteemed people diminish supporters of opposition parties as being of lower intelligence, knowledge, etc. It does not help in any way. You have to respect every person/voter.

In the latest IPSOS poll Labour was shown to be more trusted on a significant majority of issues. I.e. Labour are ahead on:

• Inflation/cost of living.
• Healthcare/Hospitals
• The Economy (even with National)
• Housing.
• Unemployment
• Poverty/Inequality
• Drug & Alcohol Abuse
• Petrol Prices
• Education
• Immigration
• Household Debt
• Race Relations
• Transport
• Taxation
• Population

If National loses the election this year it is on them for doing a poor job and assuming that they would have two terms. It is also on their supporters for not holdiing them to account from the first minute – and for sending some of the Ministers up a garden path through the obsessions of their advisors.

Pointing at the oppostion and their supporters is simply deflecting responsibility.

CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon writes:

It is less than two months since US special forces captured Venezuela’s longtime authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro during a nighttime raid in Caracas, yet it is hard to overstate how different the South American country now feels.

There’s a new buzz, an optimism that, to be frank, I have never seen before.

I moved to Caracas in 2016.

So the author actually lives in the country.

Last week, one of the most surreal moments I witnessed took place not in Caracas, but in a Chevron-run oil field in the middle of nowhere called Petroindependencia1.

CNN was one of three international outlets invited to tag along, as Rodriguez chaperoned Wright around her country to showcase the potential of what are thought to be the largest oil reserves in the world.

The moment seemed straightforward: two leaders visiting an industrial complex, shaking hands, smiling for the camera and making a nondescript speech or two.

What I had not expected to see was Rodriguez and Wright traveling in the same vehicle with minimal staff, Rodriguez amicably switching from English to Spanish to make sure the secretary was comfortable, and the pair discussing the finer technical details of how oil wells work (crude de-emulsification processes, anyone?)

So after 27 years of hostility, you have the two Governments working together cordially at the highest levels.

Similar caution was palpable among several diplomats I spoke to. The consensus, at least among the international community, is that Venezuela is taking the first small steps toward democracy but that it should not rush ahead. …

Nobody in Caracas is fooling themselves: the country is on its knees, and a lot of work is required before Venezuela can be great again, but even the harshest critics must acknowledge the enthusiasm.

Perhaps, the most surreal conversation I had was not hearing a Chavistapresident singing capitalism’s praise, or friends who have been out of the country for eight years finally looking for a flight to Caracas; but a European diplomat who, after a long pause, told me: “At least for now, we’ve got to admit that Trump got this one right.”

So far, so good.

The Telegraph reports:

I think this is a good idea. Everest is the tallest peak in the world, but is not the most difficult technically. This means you get lots of people paying to climb it, and huge queues on the mountain.

Requiring climbers to have climbed another 7000m+ peak in Nepal will both reduce demand for Everest, but also increase the skills of climbers.

Shane Reti has announced he will retire at the general election. He has been an MP for 12 years, during which time he has been deputy leader, acting leader and a senior Minister. Shane is a hell of a nice guy, and one who has been absolutely driven by a desire to improve NZ’s health system. He served as a GP for many years, and also studied at Harvard Medical School.

His Whangarei seat is relatively safe for National, so will also be keenly contested I am sure.

So every Labour Government except Lange’s inherited a surplus from National.

Every single Labour Government since at least the 1950s has left National with a deficit.

Imagine what sort of deficit a Labour/Greens/Te Pati Maori Government could chalk up in a term?

The Royal Commission has released their second and final report. Some key aspects:

• a significant change in circumstances occurred in October 2021 when decision-makers realised that elimination was no longer achievable, even as vaccination rates were increasing – and they did not account for this clearly in the strategy and subsequent alert level decisions 
• Macroeconomic impacts now appear worse than forecast at the time
• The Government did not make Rapid Antigen Tests easily accessible by the private sector until early 2022, after the existing PCR testing system had been overwhelmed. 

Simeon Brown points out:

• “The Royal Commission has now confirmed that Chris Hipkins kept Auckland locked down longer than required, despite receiving advice that restrictions could end sooner.
• “The Royal Commission has also confirmed that unredacted Cabinet papers reveal the Ministry of Health warned Hipkins the Auckland boundary was unnecessary and impractical and should be lifted.
• Around half of Labour’s $60 billion COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund had nothing to do with the pandemic;
• Labour’s ‘shovel-ready projects’ failed Treasury’s test of being timely and temporary;
• Highly stimulatory fiscal and monetary policies pushed house prices far above comparable countries and fuelled inflation;

Justice Radich has just made the following rulings:

• The suspension of Kapa-Kingi as a member of Te Pāti Māori on 23 October 2025 was in breach of the Kawa (rules) and, therefore, was unlawful.
• The expulsion of Kapa-Kingi from Te Pāti Māori or to cancel her membership in Te Pāti Māori on 9 November 2025 was in breach of the Kawa and, therefore, was unlawful.
• They must now inform the Speaker that Ms Kapa-Kingi is reinstated to Te Pāti’s parliamentary membership

It is very rare for the judiciary to make rulings such as this, but the way TPM went about their decision making was so flawed, that the Judge felt he had to. This is a humiliating loss for Tamihere and his deputy co-leaders, especially the explicit instruction that she must be returned to caucus.

Some aspects of the ruling:

• The suspension decision was made at a meeting where no notice of it was given to anyone, key members were missing or excluded, the need for consensus was ignored, none of the process laid out in the rules was followed and tikanga principles were ignored.
• The expulsion was not referred to the Electorate Council or Disciplinary and Disputes Committee as required
• The National Council meeting that expelled her did not include all its members
• The process was not followed at all, “not even in a passing way”
• The decision was made without “even providing notice of it” and “would appear to be entirely at odds with the approach to decision-making that the Kawa prescribes”
• There have been fundamental errors of law and breaches of natural justice

In terms of not just finding the process flawed, but ordered she be returned to membership and caucus the judge noted:

The extent of the breaches of the Kawa in this case is such that in my view, it would be fundamentally unjust if I did not award relief . The respondents have not just breached the Kawa’s rules but the very essence of the tikanga principles that, expressly, underpin the rules.

Makes you wonder about the sincerity of their leadership who always go on about tikanga, when they so clearly ignore it in their own work.

Tamihere now needs to decide (let’s not kid ourselves anyone else is the decision maker) if he tried to expel her again. Also if they don’t try to expel her again, do they readmit Takuta Ferris to membership?

George W Bush writes about George Washington:

Few qualities have inspired me more than Washington’s humility. I have studied the corrupting nature of power, and how retaining power for power’s sake has infected politics for generations. Our first president could have remained all-powerful, but twice he chose not to. …

After leading the United States to victory over Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, Washington was at the height of his power. Some suggested that he should become king. Instead, General Washington resigned his military commission in 1783.

To say this was not normal was an understatement. Even today we see military leaders seize power from democratic leaders. Washington was a military leader who gave up power.

As America’s first president, Washington knew “the first of everything in our situation will serve to establish a precedent.” So after two terms in office, with a distrust of long-seated rulers still fresh on America’s soul, Washington chose not to run again for president. And by once again relinquishing power rather than holding on to it, he ensured America wouldn’t become a monarchy, or worse.

And this precedent held as a convention until WWII, and was then made a constitutional requirement. It is one off the most important restraints on power the US had – Presidents can’t use the immense power ion their office to try and get re-elected endlessly.

Louise Upston announced:

In an historic moment, New Zealand will host its first-ever State of Origin match next year at Eden Park, a major event expected to draw thousands of international visitors and deliver a significant economic boost for Auckland. …

“Hosting State of Origin is expected to attract over 10,000 of our Aussie neighbours, generate more than 50,000 international visitor nights, and inject an estimated $17.4 million into the economy.

It has been reported that around $5 million was paid to have the game played here. There is a role for taxpayers to fund events which will bring people to NZ (as opposed to events that attract domestic tourism only).

But is $5 million for 10,000 tourists a good investment? That is $500 per tourist. Will the average Aussie really stay for five nights? If so, then yes the tax take off the increased economic activity probably means a good investment, but I am sceptical of these projections.

What I hope we see if hard data after the event around how many actual Australians purchased tickets for the game, and their average stay in NZ. That will guide us as to whether it was a good decision or not.

A reader who is a postgraduate student in Christchurch offered to read The Press for four weeks, and analyse what proportion of news articles, opinion columns, letters and cartoons were left, right and neutral. The summary of his findings are:

Neutral includes stories etc that just aren’t political at all.

So the ratio of left leaning to right leaning is the following:

• News: 8:1
• Opinion: 4:1
• Letters: 10:1
• Cartoons: ∞

Now one might say as it is a centre-right government, you expect more critical stories and columns as they are the Government. But does anyone think these numbers would be reversed if it was a centre-left government?

The full spreadsheet is available below.

On Patreon I write:

Each monthly poll of 1,000 gives a good indication of the overall NZ sentiment, but the breakdowns by area are not robust as they can be as few as say 80 people in Wellington etc.

In this exclusive analysis, I have gone through the last 12 months of the monthly Taxpayers’ Union – Curia polls to analyse overall support for each party in each area. So this is not a snapshot of today, but the overall support over the last year.

The full analysis is behind the paywall.

Radio NZ reports:

Chris Hipkins’ State of the Nation speech read like a “lump of jelly” filled with sentiment, but no concrete plans, and that Chat GPT could have written it, says Nationals’ deputy leader.

Nicola Willis is calling for a contest of “actual ideas” with the Labour leader, because if the party does not come up with policy, “the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are ready to go”.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters also criticised Hipkins for one of the “most boring State of the Nation speeches in recorded history”, and ACT leader David Seymour called it “featherweight”.

It really was a nothing burger. Hipkins basically just said that as they failed to deliver on most of their promises last time they were in Government, they won’t make any this time!

The Taxpayers Union released:

Remember last year when we blew the whistle on the $4 million of taxpayer money being spent on recording, remixing, and playing whale music to kauri trees to (apparently) ‘soothe and cure’ kauri dieback? …

The purpose of this project is to observe and record the deep cultural and spiritual significance that cultural practices connected with the natural world hold for tāngata Māori.  Specifically, the project involves recording the revitalisation of the Māra Tautāne in a hapū of Tūhoe, located in Ruātoki, in the northern Te Urewera. […] 

The project also elevates the importance of the role of wāhine [woman] in the preservation and maintenance of cultural practices associated with māra [the garden]. […] 

The Māra Tautāne acts as a symbolic icon to enable a connection between the spiritual world and the physical world.  It is a symbol of Māori connectedness and inseparability from the natural world. 

This project got $156k. This is science funding, not social studies or anthropology funding.

The outcomes we paid for were a story book, a 20 minute video and the below kumari patch.

Amazing.

I have deep reservations about military strikes on Iran. Over the past 30 years Western meddling in Middle Eastern politics has never led to democracy. Instead the destabilisation of Iraq led eventually to ISIS and a refugee crisis of epic proportions as millions of people surged into Europe. Ditto the bombing of Libya. The invasion of Afghanistan was likewise a catastrophe as the Taliban took over the country immediately upon the United States’ withdrawal from the country, except that billions of dollars worth of military equipment provided to the Afghan military fell into the hands of the Taliban as well.

Is that to say that I oppose strikes on Iran? No. The truth is that I do not know what the right course of action is. The difference between the American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the present situation in Iran is that there was no homegrown, grassroots appetite for change in Iraq etc, whereas practically the entire population of Iran has apostasised from Islam and hates the IRGC and is actively protesting against the ayatollahs at present. (And the Iranian government has responded by murdering tens of thousands of innocent people.) But I have extreme reservations about whether military strikes are the right course, while at the same time sharing the longing of Iranians for the downfall of that despicable, murderous regime and wondering whether if military strikes had not been conducted it would have been a huge missed opportunity.

I will dance for joy with the local Iranian population in Auckland (with whom I have been protesting against the regime for the last few weeks) if the ayatollahs are overthrown and the country transitions into a stable, free democracy. But I think their celebrations about the impending downfall of the ayatollahs are premature. I am deeply concerned about the possibility of the destabilisation of Iran resulting in a colossal refugee crisis into Europe or East Asia.

But I have absolutely no respect for Joe Carolan and his bunch of commie goons, who are holding a meeting in Auckland this week to protest the attacks on the IRGC. Where was the postmodern left a few weeks ago when the IRGC was gunning down tens of thousands of protesters? In September/ October 2025 the media reported that 20,000 people marched against Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza. But the total number of civilians killed by Israel in Gaza over the course of a two year war was about 35,000 civilians (and 35,000 combatants) in an extremely complex urban warfare environment, whereas Iran killed 30,000 civilians deliberately in the space of two days.

20,000 hippies didn’t show up to protest that. I have been at most of the Iranian pro-freedom protests (if you want to stay in the loop, NZ Against Hamas is advertising them each weekend at facebook.com/nzah.public) and there have been countless speeches asking where the anti-Israel protesters are. They simply didn’t show up. There were only ever a handful of Westerners at these protests. But now that Israel and the US are bombing military targets within Iran, Carolan and crew are protesting their actions.

Hypocrites. Absolute hypocrites. Their sympathies are with the butchers of Tehran, despite the fact that Israel and the US are democracies which respect freedom of speech. Personally, I think we should do a swap: if the postmodern left loves the IRGC so much, they should go and live there. We, in turn, can take in Iran’s pro-democracy protesters.

And where are their protests against Iran’s rocket attacks against Israel, if they’re going to protest Israel and the US’ rocket attacks on Iran?

But if the postmodern left’s hatred of Israel and the US has nothing to do with the death toll in Gaza, there must be another motivation. What is that?

Radio NZ reports:

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour says his focus is on New Zealand and issues facing Kiwis – not on joining the chorus to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the line of succession.

But Seymour wouldn’t be drawn into whether New Zealand would back the move, with more pressing priorities back home.

“I think we’ve got 99 problems most New Zealanders are facing right now,” he told First Up.

“This guy’s eighth in the line of succession, and these guys all seem to live to about 100.

No one who has been eighth in line has ever become monarch.

The closest has been Queen Victoria. She was 5th in line when born.

The only way Andrew would become heir to the throne would be if the entire Wales and Sussex families were wiped out. As Prince William and Prince Harry spend around ten minutes a year together, this is extremely unlikely.