How Could Labour Pay for Transport Without Raising Fuel Taxes?
Labour has promised it will not raise fuel taxes across the next Parliamentary term. That’s a basic cost-of-living politics move. But it’s going to hurt the transport system.
Guest post
The Latest One News Verian Poll
It’s only one poll, but it’s broadly in line with other recent polls.
The World Cup final, and Defence double standards in the Pacific
The World Cup is over and the good guys won, geo-politically speaking. When China fired a test missile a few weeks ago, it was as if the sky had fallen in.
Four Promises, Fifty Years On
Norman Kirk once said people do not ask for much: someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work, and something to hope for.
Where the Fight Against the DSS Bill Now Stands
On Thursday, Victoria Coleman handed over a petition at Parliament calling for the Disability Support Services Bill to be scrapped — 16,458 signatures got in five weeks while she cares full-time for her seven-year-old son Levi. Campaigning on top of that responsibility tells you whats at stake for thousands.
The cut to Total Mobility doesn’t add up
7 days after petitioning parliament seeking proper funding for Total Mobility, the government instead cut the funds.
On Trump’s Temporary Fix In Iran
Trump has finally said what New Zealand has been too afraid to say about Israel’s bombing of residential areas in Lebanon, and in Gaza.
Kamikaze Chris does Labour a favour
On May 21st, 2026 National’s Chris Bishop did his best to lose the 2026 general election and his Hutt South electorate.
Stop This Madness
Why is Chris Bishop wanting to review the cost of the City Rail Link while at the same time is happy to proceed with roads of national signficance that are very expensive but provide limited financial return?
Our Willingness To Earn US Approval, Via China-Bashing
The Chinese Embassy is right. The recent joint statement by Australia and New Zealand condemning China’s actions in the South China Sea reads like a relic from a bygone colonial era.
On The Iran War
Funny…when Russia invaded Ukraine, New Zealand didn’t wait for Putin to tell us whether his aggression was legal under international law. Different story when it comes to the Americans.
Affordability is not about prices – it is about extraction
The real affordability crisis lies in the systematic extraction of income from households.
The Tunnels project and SH 1 to Wellington Airport
The plan ignores standard traffic planning practice, takes no account of predicted sea level rise and will be obsolete before the last stone is turned.
Ireland’s new President causes Western backlash
There are clear signs Ireland’s new President Catherine Connolly’s landslide victory has intensified efforts to undermine the country’s neutrality and neuter its aim to punish genocidal Israel.
On Our Looming Spending Spree On Japanese Frigates
Like the Americans, maybe we should re-name our Ministry of Defence as the Ministry of War. The frigates New Zealand wants to buy can carry long-range Tomahawk Cruise missiles, with lethality so beloved by Judith Collins.
We Deserve Better
New Zealand’s media landscape is falling apart. We need a publicly-funded media entity covering television, radio and a digital platform
New Zealand’s Willing Submission To The Pentagon’s Command And Control
Our multi-billion billion spend-up on Defence has nothing to do with repelling a foreign invasion. It is all about being led by the US to join in attacking a target – China – located far from our shores.
Fiscal Choices: Scandinavia or America?
Brian Easton says we cannot attain a sustainable Scandinavian-type quality of life while keeping the existing tax system in place
On The Shameful, Incompetent Decision On Palestine
The last time New Zealand put itself on the wrong side of history was when a New Zealand rugby team toured apartheid South Africa just after schoolchildren were gunned down on the streets of Soweto.
Psy-Op Alert: The Four Horsemen of the Linguistic Apocalypse
‘Shared values,’ ‘like-minded partners,’ the ‘rules-based order,’ and the ‘Indo-Pacific’ have become the Five Eyes nations’ favourite rhetorical weapons in their contest with declared adversaries.
Guest Post – Planning By Firing Squad
The Planning by Firing Squad approach is characterised by being very rushed, lacking in detail, an almost total lack of public consultation, non-existent local knowledge and consistently paying little heed to environmental effects. It is a classic Wellington Ivory Tower approach.
Confusing Confidence with Competence: Erica Stanford and the Bulldozing of Education Reform
NCEA wasn’t perfect, but it offered students a chance to grow and succeed in different ways. It recognised that learning isn’t linear or one-size-fits-all. It gave students a chance to find their place – not just in the job market, but in the world. Which brings me to the current Minister of Education, Erica Stanford… Are we confusing confidence with competence?
Sport Must Stand Up. Sport Must Lead. Sport Must Include Everyone.
Guest post from Louisa Wall. The government’s decision to scrap Sport New Zealand’s transgender inclusion guidelines for community sport is not leadership. It is exclusion by neglect.
China is not a threat to Regional Peace
The real threat to peace in our region does not stem from China, but from a “China threat” narrative—promoted by the United States to rally other nations behind its China containment agenda.
Blind Spots When Playing for Big Stakes
How the Greens Are Setting Candidates Up to Fail
Trade Like You Mean It: How Aotearoa Can Lead with Values in a Volatile World
In an era of weaponised tariffs, crumbling institutions, and trade policy made on the campaign trail, New Zealand’s long game is trust, credibility, and coherence.
If we choose to play it.
Vilification of Russia not good for peace in Europe.
Putinversteher – one who “understands” Putin. It is meant as a slur but Professor Geoffrey Roberts, a British historian of Russia, embraces the term.
Posturing is not policy. How the West doomed Ukraine.
Henry Kissinger nailed it back in 2014: “For the West, the demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy; it is an alibi for the absence of one.”
The Unbearable Weight of Being a Useful Idiot
Res Publica takes aim at modern day ‘tankies’. Pro-authoritarian leftist, who can apologise for any authoritarian regime provided that it is intellectually cloaked in the ‘correct’ rhetoric and a veneer of geo-politics. In their view, modern day tankies are only good at reducing the left’s credibility to rubble in real-time.
Another blow against decency and truth: the flourishing of evil.
I am an ordinary citizen of Aotearoa. I am deeply angered at and ashamed of the actions of Winston Peters in dismissing Phil Goff as our High Commissioner in London. It is a deplorable decision.
Foreign interference Bill ‘repressive tool’ to intimidate public: former minister
New Zealand is set to update sedition and espionage laws, making these as harsh as those of other Western states that are now gearing up for war with Russia and China.
The Axis of Genocide
The West, “will stand by the Israeli regime until they exterminate the last Palestinian”, says Mohammad Seyed Marandi, an American-Iranian academic. Despite being appalled at my government, I winced as a New Zealander to hear my country described as part of the Axis of Genocide.
US is spending $28 billion to colonise your brain
Whoever owns the narrative owns the world – and things just got a lot tougher for those of us opposed to US influence campaigns. In a staggering increase in funding for propaganda and covert action the US House has passed the Countering the PRC (People’s Republic of China) Malign Influence Fund, kicking in an extra $1.6 billion.
Will This Be a One-Term Government?
Elliot Crossan at System Change Aotearoa reviews the past year. Despite the tepid public support for this government’s problematic actions, he warns that ‘The Right Is United By Power — Don’t Underestimate Them’
On Labour’s Enduring and Unrelenting Historic Role
Nigel Haworth argues that the 2012 reforms of the Labour Party created a perverse effect. Not to engender stronger member voice, but to empower a managerial model akin to a Piketty’s Brahmin caste. It weakened the Party’s ability to act strongly at arms length of Caucus and Parliamentary Leader.
About David Parker’s and Labour’s debate about taxation
Guest post by Nigel Haworth discussing recent publicity given to the Labour Party’s debate around tax reform.