Articles by Dr Bryce Edwards

Are voters actually up for a political circuit-breaker this year, or are we stuck with the same stale options again? If a disruptive force is desired, 2026 might finally be the year for the Opportunity Party to break through. Rebranded from “TOP” to simply “Opportunity,” the centrist party is now led by Qiulae Wong, a 37-year-old sustainability consultant who appears to have a better shot at getting into Parliament than any previous iteration…

New Zealand’s first National Infrastructure Plan, released last week, has already produced a flurry of headlines about leaky hospitals, mouldy barracks, tolled bridges and unaffordable mega-roads. It deserves that attention. But for my money, the most important thing written about the plan so far is Danyl McLauchlan’s Listener column this week, “All pitch, no policy”, which slyly turns the report into a takedown of how our whole political…

Last week, New Zealand’s Parliament ceased using X. The Clerk of the House, David Wilson, unilaterally decided the institution would no longer have a presence on the platform formerly known as Twitter. His stated reason was that he “could no longer support” X because of its AI chatbot Grok and reports about deepfake imagery. “It didn’t feel right for my organisation to use a platform that allowed that to happen,” he told Stuff. This came…

Chris Hipkins delivered his State of the Nation speech this afternoon in Auckland, and the verdict is clear enough: there wasn’t much in it. No new policy. No surprises. No real detail on how Labour would govern differently. It was, by design, a low-key affair. The question now is whether voters see this as strategic discipline or something less flattering. The speech, delivered to the Auckland Business Chamber and hosted by former National…

The Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand is supposed to be the guardian of teaching standards. It registers and certifies teachers, vets who get to stand in front of a classroom, and enforces professional conduct. Right now it looks more like a case study in how public institutions go wrong. Over the past two weeks, two devastating reports have landed in public view, exposing an organisation riddled with conflicts of interest, procurement…

The Government’s Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime is finally being put out of its misery. After less than two years of existence, $1.8 million in spending, the resignation of three of its five members, and an ongoing trail of embarrassing headlines, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced last week that the group would be wound up months ahead of schedule. If you want a clear example of how patronage rots policy-making,…

Yesterday, as the Infrastructure Commission released New Zealand’s first-ever National Infrastructure Plan, the North Island was cleaning up from yet another extreme weather event. Roads blocked by slips and flooding. Power cut to homes. Stormwater and sewage systems overwhelmed. Commission chief executive Geoff Cooper acknowledged the grim backdrop, noting that the challenges of maintaining infrastructure in the face of natural hazards “sit at…

New Zealand’s politicians like to point to the existence of published ministerial diaries as evidence that our system is open and transparent. Ministers now routinely say that anyone can see who they’re meeting with, so there’s nothing much to worry about in terms of backroom influence. On paper, the diaries are supposed to be a window into the Beehive – a way for the public to track who gets face time with ministers and who doesn’t. In…

The political left doesn’t want to talk about it. But the most likely outcome of the 2026 general election is a government that includes New Zealand First. And that might even mean a government led by Prime Minister Winston Peters. This will be highly uncomfortable for many, but it doesn’t mean it won’t happen. So, if you wanted to place a strong bet about what happens after November 7, put your money on NZ First being part of the next…

The Government’s plan to build a billion-dollar liquefied natural gas import terminal in Taranaki is being sold as a masterstroke of energy security. But look past the government spin and what you actually find is a rushed, billion‑dollar infrastructure bet that sidesteps the Government’s own expert advice, locks New Zealand into fossil fuels for decades, and is being rammed through Parliament. The situation is this. This proposal has serious…