Articles from ‘elocal magazine’ in ‘Opinion’

Many expected fireworks at Waitangi this year. In an election year, with the Government’s record on Treaty issues still fresh and raw, the annual commemorations looked set to be a battleground. Instead, the week turned out to be remarkably calm on the surface. And deeply fractured underneath. The real story of Waitangi 2026 wasn’t about Māori versus the Crown. It was about Māori versus Māori, and an opposition that seems incapable of getting…

New Zealand likes to see itself as a principled nation — small, independent, and willing to stand up for public safety even when powerful interests object. We banned nuclear weapons when others told us it would be economically reckless. We rejected certain trade pressures when they conflicted with national values. We pride ourselves on sovereignty. Yet when it comes to COVID-19 and the unprecedented deployment of mRNA technology, New Zealand…

New Zealanders are badly ripped off by profit-gouging companies in some of the country’s most important sectors. The Big Four banking oligopolies make super profits totalling about 3% of GDP. The supermarket duopoly makes excess profits of $1 million a day. The lack of competition in energy, building materials, and other sectors is also gouging consumers. These are all “broken markets” contributing to the “broken New Zealand” we are currently…

The bodies are being recovered. The memorial services are being held. The inquiries are being announced. But as New Zealand moves from the immediate horror of the Mount Maunganui tragedy into the familiar ritual of official review, a harder set of questions is emerging. Not just “what went wrong at 9.30am on January 22?” but “why does this keep happening?” and “what, exactly, is the plan?” · The answer to that last question, as far as anyone…

For ordinary households, the “energy crisis” is no longer a headline—it’s a permanent line item. The price shock that began during the COVID era and intensified after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not cleanly reversed. In many Western countries, energy costs have settled into a new, higher plateau—one that acts like a stealth tax on families, small businesses, and national competitiveness. Some will argue this is merely the unavoidable price…

When Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today that Judith Collins would become the next President of the Law Commission, he reached for familiar talking points about her “astute legal knowledge” and her service to the country. What he didn’t mention was far more significant: this marks the first time in the Law Commission’s 40-year history that a current serving politician has been appointed to lead this supposedly independent…

History leaves patterns. When money creation is examined not as an abstract theory but as a mechanism of power, a consistent record emerges — one rarely discussed in mainstream economics. Nations that attempt to reclaim monetary sovereignty, restrain debt-based banking, or challenge reserve-currency privilege tend not to be debated on their merits. They are pressured, isolated, destabilised, or destroyed. Neo-Piracy Preface — Part 3: When…

The picture is firming up, and it’s devastating. Six people are dead at the foot of Mount Maunganui because, over four critical hours on the morning of 22 January, New Zealand’s emergency management system failed. Not just failed, but failed repeatedly, in ways that now look systemic. And what’s becoming clearer with each new revelation is that this wasn’t just bad luck or an unforeseeable tragedy. This was a disaster waiting to happen, built…

This week Chris Hipkins gave us the clearest picture yet of how Labour plans to fight the 2026 election. His speech at the party’s caucus retreat in West Auckland, and then a rally-style address to party activists, revealed a strategy that combines class-based attack lines, relentless positivity, and a narrowed focus on kitchen-table concerns. But can this rebranded Labour convince voters it’s genuinely different from the party they rejected so…

The starting gun has been fired on the 2026 general election. There are now 277 days until voting starts in the New Zealand general election. And it’s 290 days of campaigning to endure, until voting closes. Then there’s the weeks of waiting for official results after polling day, and probably weeks more of coalition negotiations. It’s going to be a long year of politics. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed yesterday that the election…