Articles in ‘Opinion’

By the end of Part 3, the architecture was clear. New Zealand had become financialised, externally dependent, and increasingly vulnerable — but it had not yet been tested. Part 4 is where theory meets reality. When crisis arrives, structure is revealed. Not in reports — but in outcomes. · COVID, monetary expansion, rising global instability, and energy exposure did not create the hollowing out. They exposed it. · This is the moment where…

New Zealand’s fuel crisis has revealed something far more serious than a temporary supply risk. · It has exposed a strategic delusion at the heart of government policy. · Because while ministers talk about shipping lanes, stock levels, and “seven weeks of supply,” they are carefully avoiding the one issue that underpins everything: · New Zealand cannot function without carbon fuels! The Reality We Refuse to Admit · This country consumes…

Luxon’s fuel crisis spin cannot hide a government that failed to prepare · Today’s press conference on New Zealand’s looming fuel crisis was supposed to reassure the country. · Instead, it exposed something far more serious: · This Government is not thinking ahead. It is thinking late. · For all the calm words, all the tidy talking points, and all the managerial language about planning, scenarios, and monitoring, the reality is plain. New…

Winston Peters delivered his State of the Nation speech in Tauranga yesterday, and it told us something important about where NZ First thinks the 2026 election will be won. Not in the culture wars or in Covid grievances, but in the electricity bill sitting on your kitchen table. Peters ranged across Fonterra’s sell-off, Te Pāti Māori, the India deal. Slipped up calling his party “socialist” — meant “socially conservative” — then declared NZ…

The Press newspaper in Christchurch has just published its “Power List” — a ranking of the fifty most influential people in the South Island. It’s a series of articles that updates the list they published two years. The 2026 edition, compiled primarily by senior journalist Philip Matthews, is worth reading closely. Not just for the names, but for what the list reveals about where power actually sits in Te Waipounamu, and how much of it has…

The scandal around Paul Eagle keeps getting uglier. · Last week this column set out the Auditor-General’s damning findings on Eagle’s tenure as chief executive of the Chatham Islands Council: the $460,000 gold-plated house renovation, the fabricated documents, the forged builder’s signature, the admission that he “panicked.” The Serious Fraud Office is now assessing whether to open a criminal investigation. · What has received less scrutiny…

New Zealand has just been handed a harsh reality check. Behind the polished language and carefully managed messaging, one truth is now impossible to ignore: When it comes to fuel security, this Government has no Plan B. · That is not a minor policy gap. That is a national vulnerability. · Fuel is not optional. It is the backbone of the economy. It powers freight, agriculture, emergency services, construction, aviation, and the movement of…

Co-governance is still alive and well under this coalition government contrary to what they promised prior to the 2023 election. · In my honest opinion after many years of watching politicians everywhere grab more power while dividing people with fear, race, and ideology; you can’t trust the political class or the media that protects them. They are often, deceitful (sometimes even corrupt) and thrive on control, division, and obedience, with…

New Zealand politics just got personal. On Sunday evening, Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ ex-wife Jade Paul posted a series of claims about him on her private Facebook page. The post was deleted. Hipkins issued a five-word denial: “I reject the allegations entirely.” He’s seeking legal advice. And just like that, we’re having a national conversation about the oldest and most uncomfortable question in political life: when does a politician’s…

Part I... Part 2... · If Part 2 described the repositioning of New Zealand inside global financial architecture, Part 3 shows what that repositioning produced. · The hollowing out becomes visible here. · Not in theory. In productivity. In industry. In money flow. · From High Productivity to Stagnation · In the 1950s and early 1960s, New Zealand ranked among the highest-income nations in the developed world. Its productivity performance…