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David Seymour fronts Act, New Zealand's libertarian party that also embraces elements of populism. Libertarians believe that Governments should be small, property rights supplant human rights and market forces are all we need to ensure a thriving economy. Taxation should be limited and people should be able spend their money where they choose for their health care, education and core services. Public services are an anathema to them, especially public broadcasting. Despite advocating for free speech, Seymour can be quite a snowflake when criticisms are directed at him or his party's policies. He is also well known for making sweeping generalisations and promoting disinformation to support his case. My personal interactions with him have confirmed his blind support of corporate thinking and his flippant dismissal of anything outside his narrow ideology. I challenged him about his disastrous school lunch programme being delivered by an overseas corporate. His initiative destroye...

The  NBR rich list  has been published for 2025. The combined wealth of the 130 listed is $102.1 billion. In 2015 the 180 individuals and families listed had a combined wealth of  $55 billion . According to the Reserve bank inflation calculator the percentage of change over the last decade was 32.9%. Given that the 2025 list is much smaller than that in 2015, the increase in wealth for those on the list must be well over 3x that of inflation. For some years average  household wealth has decreased .  Since 1980s and 90s, when New Zealand experienced the  fastest growing inequality  in the OECD, we have become so used to this wealth capture by a privileged few that when each wealth list is published, it receives minimal attention. When there are criticisms of the systems that favour the rich the current government  dismisses it as envy , while continuing to gift even more advantage to the already wealthy. The  $2.9 billion tax break f...

For Ruth Richardson to receive the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as a Member of Parliament and to governance should not sit well with millions of New Zealanders who have been negatively impacted by her 1991 Mother of All Budgets .  Richardson slashed benefits by 12.7% and the impact on child poverty was almost instant. Before her brutal budget around 25% of children living in beneficiary households experienced poverty and this leapt to 75% shortly afterwards. Rogernomic's began New Zealand's neoliberal journey, but it was Richardson who cut huge holes in the 50 year old social welfare safety net established by the First Labour Government. No government since has restored benefits to the same level and 17.7% of our children in Aotearoa are currently living in poverty with 13.3% suffering from material hardship. Conservative and libertarian parties like to create the impression that benefit payments should be kept low to encourage people into work and ...

  Many MPs stand and support the haka There is no other credible interpretation of what has influenced the Privileges Committee decision regarding the penalties for performing a haka in the house other than pure racism.  The broader context for this cannot be ignored and supports a view that Te Pāti Māori have exercised a good deal of restraint from wider attacks on Māori and the constant bullying and disrespect that their MP's have been subjected to on an almost daily basis. The excessive disciplinary action taken against them reflects not just a rejection of tikanga Māori, but a deeper systemic resistance to Māori expression and sovereignty. Te Pāti Māori are the only elected party that exists primarily to represent tangata whenua, the first people of Aotearoa New Zealand. A previous National-led Government signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) which affirms the rights of indigenous peoples and acknowledges the impact of colonisat...

I was interested in David Seymour's public presentation of the Justice Select Committee's report after the submissions to the Treaty Principles Bill. I noted the arguments he presented and fact checked him. I welcome corrections and additions to what I have written but want to keep the responses concise. The Treaty of Waitangi does not represent a partnership. WRONG : Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a foundational document of New Zealand, establishing a relationship of partnership between the Crown and Māori. The principle of partnership, which requires the Crown and Māori to work in partnership in the governance, design, delivery, and monitoring of services, is a key aspect of the Treaty. All kiwis should be equal in their human rights before the law. DELIBERATELY MISLEADING : The Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand's own unique statement of human rights. It includes both universal human rights and Indigenous rights. At a basic level of human rights we are treated the same, howeve...

  I recently attended a conference organised by WEALL ( Wellbeing Economy Alliance ) Aotearoa. WEALL defines 'economy' differently from the current neoliberal approach and that is simply 'the way that we produce and provide for one another'.  Attending this conference made me even more aware of how far we have drifted away from what the core purpose of what an economy should be.  A common definition of an economy, through a Google search, is: "A system that involves how people produce, trade and use goods and services". Early economies, and certainly those of most indigenous peoples, are essentially about ensuring that the resources and wealth generated within a community are equitably shared to support the wellbeing of that community. When the needs of that community were met, any surplus could then be traded with other communities for things that they were not able to produce. Prior to colonisation, the  Māori economy was primarily based around hapu where l...