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Dr Muriel Newman
With Army attrition figures for 2026 expected to be an astonishing 27 percent, with 566 personnel having taken their release, and a further 626 undergoing release action, one can’t but help wonder whether the Army’s surrender to Maori activism, and the absurd requirements being forced on personnel by senior leadership, has been driving good people away.
This election has become a contest, not only over constitutional direction, but over the future of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Treaty settlement process. On one side stands the Coalition, determined to complete the settlements and rein in or abolish the Tribunal. On the other side are parties intent on expanding its powers to radically advance the Maori sovereignty cause.
Under MMP a voter is entitled to use their two votes in whatever lawful way they choose. They may double-tick the same party, or they may decide that their preferred outcome is better served by splitting their vote. The dynamics have changed at this election and 900,000 centre-right votes may be wasted. That’s something voters may want to consider.
Election promises need to be judged on whether they strengthen the foundations of growth. The key to improving living standards is not redistributing wealth but growing the economic pie so that everyone can have a bigger slice.
The Maori Party’s attempt to use the Maori seats to rig the election should be the final nail in their coffin - an attack on democracy, stability, and Parliamentary Sovereignty, that the Coalition can no longer ignore. They need to now promise that if they are re-elected, a referendum on the Maori Seats will be held as a matter of urgency.
Here’s the real question: How can it be appropriate that the Electoral Commission — a public sector agency that’s meant to be politically neutral and independent of Government policy — entrenches the highly political doctrine of “Te Tiriti” and the values of Tuhonohono, Arataki, Uakaha, Manaaki, and Tika, and requires staff to demonstrate allegiance?
The reality is that the promotion of TOP as a centrist does not stand up to scrutiny. TOP’s plan to tax homeowners, bring down property prices, introduce a universal benefit, strengthen net zero, decriminalise drugs, lift the age of criminal responsibility to 25, and back He Puapua is anything but centrist! And the fact that National has already ruled out working with them after the election, means a vote for TOP is a vote for Labour.
There are many reasons the Coalition should press pause on their local government reforms, but the most important is their fundamentally undemocratic and draconian approach. They are not only disrespecting the wishes of local communities but trampling on their rights to determine how their voices are represented around the decision-making table.
The bureaucratic architecture driving New Zealand’s climate compliance is, in effect, “gold plated” because government institutions were directed by the Ardern administration to embed extreme modelling assumptions into every level of decision-making.
In this country, the pressure for parallel authority is being driven by iwi leaders, who, thanks to the appeasement policies of successive governments and generous taxpayer funded Treaty settlements, now preside over vast tax‑free business empires. Not only are they replacing “Kiwi culture” with iwi culture - enriching themselves in the process - but they are now attempting to gain constitutional control of New Zealand.
