Category: Weekly Column
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.
For decades, New Zealand has been undergoing a quiet constitutional revolution. What was once largely unnoticed is now becoming increasingly visible - so much so that the Coalition Government can no longer ignore it if it hopes to remain in office.
The battle for local democracy is not over. If the Coalition fails to act decisively, the tribal capture of local government will continue — not because the public wants it, but because too many councils have already been captured by iwi interests. The Coalition has the opportunity to stop it – can People Power convince it to do so?
While Budget 2026 shows prudent short-term management, it falls short of the more ambitious structural reform needed to put New Zealand’s finances on a truly sustainable long-term footing. While the direction is positive, the trajectory is tediously and unnecessarily slow.
What is very clear is that New Zealand can no longer justify basing major national policies on a scenario that has now been formally rejected by the very international body whose advice underpinned our entire climate agenda. A full and immediate political reset is essential - one that removes these flawed “implausible” assumptions RCP 8.5 and SSP5-8.5 before they inflict even more damage on New Zealand households and businesses.
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