What a Rally! 600 ACT supporters rallied on the Auckland waterfront to kick off ACT’s 2026 Campaign. Thank you to all who came along to the biggest and best campaign rally of the election so far.

Nicole McKee has been chosen to succeed Brooke van Velden as ACT’s Deputy Leader. Nicole’s speech to the Rally was half drowned out by applause. She is a star, set to burn brighter than ever this campaign.

ACT released one old policy and one new. The Party’s 2023 welfare policy should have been adopted by Government. The numbers have gone the wrong way with 12.7 per cent of working aged adults on a benefit. People say there’s no jobs but only 5.3 per cent are unemployed. ACT has now re-launched the campaign for real scrutiny for health-related benefits, and electronic money management for long-term work-ready beneficiaries.

The new policy is a specific prescription of 18 Ministers and 19 departments. That is similar to other countries of 5 million, Norway, Ireland, Singapore. Making New Zealand affordable again must start at the top. The full policy document is here.

Seymour’s Speech

You can watch Seymour’s full speech to the Rally ‘26 here. For your convenience, we’ve reproduced it below.

Lock Labour Out, Unlock New Zealand’s Potential
David Seymour, ACT Leader
June 28, 2026

Thank you for buying a ticket to the start of ACT’s 2026 Campaign.

ACT has two missions this year.

One: Lock Labour Out.

Two: Unlock New Zealand’s potential.

We’re here because the ACT Party, and only the ACT Party, can deliver on both missions.

No other Party can say the next three things:

• We’re not Labour
• We’ve never worked with Labour
• We’re not Labour-lite

I don’t really want to talk about other parties, but check them against the statements.

Hana Haka Party and Te Pāti Māori, worked with Labour. We always said they stood for division, now they’ve divided themselves. In half. Three years, six MPs, and the best they could do for Māori is a haka on TikTok.

The only good policy they support is charter schools, and we had to do that one for them. With half a dozen Māori charter schools, ACT has done more to unlock Māori potential than the party which named itself after the race, which, by the way, is disgraceful.

Their toxic mix of racism and socialism has no place in our society, let alone in charge of it.

We need one law for all, equal rights for every New Zealander, and a country that pulls together instead of tearing itself apart. We must lock them out of power.

Then there’s Business Class Chlöe from the Greens, who work with Labour. They’ve done about as much for the environment as the Māori Party have for Māori.

They’ve given up saving Pukekos so they can save Palestinians instead. When they’re not leading antisemitic chants, they’re flying business class paid for by corporate lobbyists.

When they’re not helping themselves to other people’s clothes, they’re dreaming about helping themselves to other people’s money. They just can’t calculate how much.

They say another $5.5 billion of spending each year will fix poverty, but they’ve tried this before.

They spent $76 billion in 2017 with Labour and NZ First. In 2023, the Government spent $136 billion. That means they increased spending by $60 billion in six years.

Only Green Party accounting says $60 billion of extra spending didn’t solve poverty, but another $5.5 billion somehow will.

The Greens are funny, but they have a dark side. Listen carefully to their words.

They say their new taxes ‘will only affect 0.3 per cent of people.’ As if picking on people is OK if they’re the minority. That’s not just morally wrong, it’s untrue.

Every tax grows over time. If you think they’re taxing ‘other people,’ it’s only a matter of time until ‘other people’ includes you.

The Green Party’s message can be summed up in one line: ‘your problems are caused by other people’s success, but if you vote for us we’ll tax them and give it to you.’

Tall poppy syndrome is the dark underbelly of our national character, but the Greens want to make it official Government policy. New Zealand needs the opposite.

We need more billion-dollar companies. More Xeros and Zurus, more Halters and Rocket Labs. That’s how you get high paying jobs, and success is contagious. One billion-dollar company can inspire the next one when people see what’s possible.

We must lock the Greens out of power.

Then there’s Cynical Chris Hipkins and the Labour Party themselves.

Every policy is a feel-good headline about something being ‘free,’ with no idea how they’ll pay for it. At this point, they’re up to $18 billion of unfunded promises.

Their bumper sticker politics is cynical because it shows how little hope they have for our country.

They believe New Zealanders have given up, and we’re ready to accept discount bus fares and free doctor visits you’ll never get an appointment for, because that’s as good as New Zealand can get.

The word for that kind of politics is cynical. Three years in power at any cost, and Labour costs a lot.

In Government they blew up the economy, raised debt by $100 billion, but the costs of Labour are not only financial. They divided us by race and started a stampede of Kiwis overseas, just as soon as they let us out of our houses and opened the border.

I have a prediction. If Labour get back in more of us will be living where Jacinda now lives. In Australia and beyond.

That’s why our first mission must be to lock out Labour, but let’s keep going through the Parties.

There’s Wily Winnie and New Zealand First. We all know they’ve worked with Labour, especially the Oil and Gas industry.

There’s a cartoon of Winston on the wall in Parliament. It shows him playing 1st 5/8, standing behind the scrum. The No. 8 pops up to ask the halfback, ‘how do you know which way he’ll go?’

That cartoon is thirty years old, but it’s still a great question. Would you bet your economic future he won’t run down the blindside again? Soon we may all be forced to take the bet.

That’s Labour and those who would work with Labour. Who’s left?

Clever Chris and the National Party.

Are they Labour Lite? Maybe.

It turns out they can also run left or right, but look at the difference being in Government with ACT can make:

They voted for Jacinda’s gun laws. In Government with ACT, they’re voting to replace them. Let’s hear it for our new deputy Nicole McKee who’s led that campaign for seven years.

They voted for the Zero Carbon Act. Now with ACT they’ve voted to halve the methane targets so farmers can keep farming without significant change. Let’s hear it for Mark Cameron, who’s led that campaign since he entered Parliament six years ago.

They introduced earthquake strengthening laws that cost tens of billions for no benefit, now with ACT they’ve voting to reverse it.

They introduced the bureaucratic Resource Management Act, and defended it for 35 years. Now we’re replacing it with new laws based on property rights. Let’s hear it for Simon Court, Parliament’s only Civil Engineer, who’s done the grunt work on that law.

What changed? On all these laws ACT stood alone in opposition for a decade.

On guns, the Zero Carbon Act, and the earthquake law, we saw the power of one. ACT voted against the whole Parliament. 119-1.

Well, from one, many. New Zealand is a better place because of every single one of you who voted for us to fight for common-sense in greater numbers.

When I was elected as a sole ACT MP in Government with National, serious RMA reform was not an option. Instead National voted with the Māori Party to make the RMA even worse with Iwi Participation Agreements.

The difference is ACT at the Cabinet table, and you did it by putting us there.

All of you who voted ACT for real change nearly three years ago, you are changing this country for the better.

Those are some of the things we’ve done.

I haven’t talked about Brooke’s employment, health and safety, and Holidays Act reforms to make life easier for workers, small business and farmers. Let’s hear it for Brooke van Velden and wish her well for her future outside the asylum of Parliament.

I haven’t talked about Nicole’s changes to Anti Money Laundering rules, firearms prohibition laws for gang members, or the liquor laws. Let’s hear it again for our new deputy.

I haven’t mentioned Karen getting kids in care to behave, and youth crime being down by 25%, without a single bucket of KFC. Why do they listen to Karen? Because they can tell when an adult really cares. Let’s hear it for Karen Chhour, the first Minister for Children who’s visited every Oranga Tamariki facility.

I haven’t mentioned Andrew’s Farm Environment Plans, his success on halving methane targets, or his repulsion of every biosecurity incursion including wilding pines, or his crack-down on dog tethering. Let’s hear it for the only real farmer in Government.

I haven’t mentioned Parmjeet’s crusades against racist courses at the University, or knee-jerk attempts to ban social media. She’s copped a lot of the vilest abuse but stayed strong every day. Let’s hear it for Dr Parmar, scientist, businesswoman, and campaigner.

I haven’t mentioned Cam standing up for fishers, getting rid of council voting rights for the non-elected, or standing up for the value of tradies. Let’s hear it for Parliament’s only Licensed Building Practitioner, Cameron Luxton.

I haven’t mentioned Todd’s work to pick up the baton of assisted dying, or his relentless drive to defend free speech from the overreach of the Broadcasting Standards Authority and professional regulators.

Todd is also the Parliamentary Private Secretary for Health. He deserves the credit for the revolutions in Pharmac and Medsafe making more medicines available. Let’s hear it for the pocket rocket, Todd Stephenson.

I haven’t mentioned Laura’s successful campaign to get the whole parliament voting for her deepfake porn bill. She’s shown how school uniforms could be affordable under the next Government. She’s stood for democratic freedom and been banned from visiting China for her troubles. Let’s hear it for our MC today, Laura McClure.

In my own area, school attendance has increased year on year every term but one. Over 360,000 patients have benefited from increased medicine access, including 46 decisions to fund or widen cancer medicines.

The Ministry for Regulation has got the Regulatory Standards Act into law. It’s unlocked at least $10 of economic value for every dollar it’s cost the taxpayer, by cutting red tape for everyone from hemp farmers to hairdressers.

Charter Schools are unlocking the potential of young Kiwis by showing them education can be different. Children who’d been given up on, and felt like giving up on themselves, are finding a new passion for learning and building real self-esteem.

Those are some of the things we’ve done, but ACT has two jobs in Government.

Number one, do as many good things as possible.

Number two, stop as many stupid things as we can.

Now, we can’t stop everything.

When I hear my colleagues boast that taxpayers have funded the world’s biggest mussel farm, I ask myself “why has nobody else built one so big?”

When I hear my colleagues say taxing donations to charities won’t reduce their funding because rich people don’t care about taxes, I ask myself “how did they get so rich without caring about money?” That law will need to be reversed before it kneecaps charities next tax year.

Another colleague has, and I’m not making this up, passed a law so every new TV must be pre-installed with the apps for TV1, TV3 and Māori TV. We can’t stop everything.

Some people don’t like the LNG import terminal. I don’t want to break confidentiality, but I want to reassure you that was the least crazy idea on offer. I can’t tell you the other ones and, trust me, you don’t want to know.

I can tell you there would be at least three new taxes without ACT in Government, we have made this a Government of no new taxes. The Government doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

We saw the disaster of Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens banning oil and gas. It scared off investment for a generation.

Without ACT, more industries would have been attacked, over-regulated, even broken up by colleagues who want to be heroes but would only bring destruction.

They would give the world a repeat of the oil and gas message: New Zealand is not a safe country to invest in.

Then there’s wasteful spending. We calculate ACT Ministers have saved $14 billion for the taxpayer. That’s $57,000 for every person who gave their party Vote to ACT. Not a bad deal when you consider it’s free to vote for us.

They’ll never admit it, but Brooke saved the Budget with her pay equity reforms last year.

This year, another ACT idea saved Budget 2026.

The Government is on a path to surplus by 2028 thanks to a promise. A promise that there will be a smaller bureaucracy with fewer government departments.

Has anyone here heard that before somewhere?

Once again ACT is setting the agenda for a smaller, more efficient Government.

We’re proud of the progress we’ve made. I believe ACT has shown the courage to deliver for New Zealanders. We’ve cut the waste to grow the country.

That doesn’t mean the last three years have been easy.

They haven’t always listened to us, and sometimes only half listened.

One of the biggest failings we have is on welfare dependency. It’s not because of the responsible Minister. She is among the Government’s most competent.

The problem is the lack of ambition, and the results speak for themselves.

I know some will say there are no jobs. Here is a readout from a small business owner I met this week.

This lady brought up two kids alone, built her gardening business from the ground up.

She can’t get workers. She thought maybe it was her. She went to an agency, paid hundreds of dollars for advertising. At the end of the week she got sent a report:

“Gardener (Job number xyz…) has generated the following interest.

812 views.

80 people have applied.

15 passed initial screening.

2 were sent through. We’re waiting for 3 applicants to respond.

The remaining applicants were screened out mainly due to not having relevant experience, or they’re expecting $30+ per hour (for no experience) or $50-$60 per hour (experienced candidates).

For the record she pays $35 an hour and cannot get people to work for her.

Some might say that’s tough, but it’s $1,400 a week full time, $70k a year.

It’s gotta be better than being on a benefit, so why stay on one?

One clue is the methamphetamine statistics. Somewhere in this city is a facility where people test sewage for methamphetamine. They’re literally looking for P in our pee.

In the last two years it’s doubled, to 33 kilograms a week. All of it is imported, none of the importers are AML compliant. Think about that next time you’re filling out AML forms.

Our gardening business lady thinks P is the reason people won’t work. Apply for a job to keep their benefit? Maybe.

I met a couple the same day who run a building company. They are registering as accredited employers with Immigration New Zealand so they can employ migrants. They have given up on Kiwis.

They get people who come in and work like trojans, then at 2pm they nod off. It’s the P again.

The Government can search containers at the border and track suspicious yachts but, despite its best efforts, drugs are winning the war on drugs.

What we need to do is stop paying people to stay at home taking them.

Unemployment is 5.3 per cent, that is high. But 12.7 per cent of working aged New Zealanders are on a benefit. The gap is too big to explain.

Let me put it another way, for every seven working-aged Kiwis working, there is one on a benefit.

That’s not a country reaching its potential. It’s too many people sleeping the day away as their neighbours leave for work to pay them.

Last election ACT campaigned on welfare reform. We said three things:

• If you are on a work-ready benefit for more than four months, you get your rent or mortgage paid and a plastic card that only works on staple items.
• If you have more children on sole parent support, you get your rent or mortgage paid and a plastic card that only works on staple items. As we said at the time, we can’t have one-in-eight Kiwis starting life on a benefit.
• If you are deemed not work-ready, a doctor employed by the Ministry for Social Development will see you and help you get ready. They won’t be signing you off to get you out of their clinic, their whole job will be to get you back to work.

These policies have been half implemented under this Government. You only get the plastic card if you don’t show up to meetings.

We don’t need people to show up to meetings, we need to stop paying people to stay home.

The law has been passed for a pool of approved doctors, but they’re a last resort. That is good progress. It shows ACT is making a difference, but the Government has not gone far enough.

The amazing thing is we’re spending $837 million per year on back-to-work schemes, but progress is meagre.

ACT will be campaigning to take our policies all the way this election. The logic is simple. If we want people to work, we need to stop paying them to stay home.

Only when able bodied people are expected to work before more workers are imported will we get a glimpse of New Zealand’s true potential.

Over the last few years, firms, farms and families have had to dig deep. We’ve all had to tighten our belts and do the hard work to try and overcome Labour’s debt driven, inflationary, racially divisive mess.

It hurt when we started to feel that we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but events overseas, beyond our control, blacked that light out and left us in despair.

If you told me the United States would start a trade war last April and an actual war that doubled the price of diesel this year, I would have thought you were paranoid.

Well, here we are, but finger pointing doesn’t make anyone feel better. Despite the many wins I’ve described, it feels at times like we take one step forward and two steps back.

Change has happened, and we are moving in the right direction, even if it has been slower than many of us would have liked.

In ACT’s view, the next step we have to take has to be bolder, braver, and faster, and build on the successes that have been achieved, and to deliver the Government people want.

For ninety years we’ve had a deal called the welfare state. The deal is supposed to be that you pay about a third of your income, and the Government solves all the problems we can’t solve individually.

It is supposed to create conditions where well-paid, fulfilling jobs exist for everyone. Where our welfare system is a hand up, not a hand out.

Where our next generation is educated with life skills that will set them up to succeed, in schools that bring out the best in every child.

Where we can be certain to receive the healthcare that we need, by skilled and caring practitioners.

Where crime doesn’t pay and consequences are taken seriously.

Most of all, that those that work hard still get rewarded for it, with more of your hard earned money staying with you.

That’s what the welfare state is supposed to do, but we know it hasn’t been working.

No matter how much money goes in, things don’t improve. It almost seems spending more money makes things worse.

Waiting lists get longer as the demands of the health budget sweep all before it.

Students feel less prepared for the world. Local pass rates somehow rise, even as students do worse against international benchmarks.

While most use welfare temporarily as job insurance, hundreds of thousands use it to sleep their life away while their neighbours go to work.

We lock the bad people up, but too many reoffend. If we can’t turn them around when they’re a captive audience, when can we?

Getting anything more complicated than a school classroom built seems impossible, and even that can be difficult.

All this poor delivery means people have never been more frustrated with Government, no matter who’s in power.

Does anyone think we’re getting good service from Government departments? Every year more of your money is invested in the public service, yet the frontline services that matter get worse.

That’s because your taxes get tied up in the wrong place. Money absorbed by a complicated structure is money that can’t be returned to taxpayers, can’t pay down debt, can’t reach the nurse, teacher or police officer on the frontline, and can’t build the infrastructure the country needs. That is the hidden tax everyone pays for worse public services.

Over the last three years I’ve had new insight into why the public service doesn’t deliver.

Government is much crazier than I realised.

Some people will think this is beltway Wellington stuff that doesn’t affect everyday people’s lives but, believe me, we will not get the Government we deserve while its organised the way it is.

When I say it’s crazy, I mean it’s crazy that a country our size has 267 regulatory bodies. We have 43 government departments. We have 28 government ministers. How did such a small country get such a complicated government?

Norway, a similar size, has 17 departments and 20 ministers.

Ireland, population five million, has 18 departments and 15 ministers.

Singapore, the same population again, has 16 departments and 18 ministers.

The size of New Zealand’s Government isn’t intentional; it’s grown like a hedge you forgot about. ACT said time and again it needs a trim, we have too many departments, too many ministers, too many bureaucrats.

Now it is official Government policy to reduce the number of departments. It should have happened two years ago, but we’ve been proved right in the end.

It is now official Government policy to reduce the size of the bureaucracy back to 2017 levels by 2029. It’s not as fast as ACT would do it, but does anyone think this would be happening without ACT?

That’s the departments and the bureaucracy, but what about the ministers?

If we want to make New Zealand affordable, we need to start at the top.

The most far-reaching reforms in our history happened under a cabinet of 16. Today we have 30. Ten don’t go to the Cabinet meetings, but participate in sub committees.

We’ve had a look at overseas Governments and found that more spending ministers means bigger deficits. When many ministers each control part of the budget but the cost falls on every taxpayer, each has an incentive to grow their own spending while bearing only a fraction of the cost.

Some ministers have seven portfolios. When you’re up against a bureaucrat who’s been there 30 years, seen five governments come and go, and specialises in one subject, it’s already an unfair fight.

No minister with seven subject areas can win seven unfair fights.

But, being fair to the departments, they report to multiple ministers.

The head of the Ministry of Education reports to three ministers.

The head of the Department of Internal Affairs reports to seven different ministers.

The head of MBIE reports to 23, yes 23, ministers. I am one of a tiny handful who is not theoretically in charge of MBIE.

It gets worse. No elected minister gets to choose the head of any department. They are selected as part of a priesthood called the Public Service Commission that makes Opus Dei look open and transparent.

If you wonder why Government seems so unresponsive, and no amount of money makes anything better, look no further than the spaghetti head at the top.

Today we’re releasing two election policies. I’ve talked about our approach to welfare, here is our second.

ACT will campaign for a Cabinet of 18 ministers. We’ve presented a list of departments and ministers that make sense.

We will be taking a simple message to any coalition negotiation, 18 ministers 19 departments.

Each department should report to one minister, who would be fully accountable for its budget, objectives, and outcomes.

Our plan removes the Public Service Commission. Chief Executives should be selected and employed by the minister. It should be clear in a democracy, the buck stops with the person who’s elected, not an unelected priesthood.

All of this may sound like a Wellington beltway issue, but believe me, the fish rots from the head.

We won’t get better results when everybody and nobody is in charge of everything and nothing.

We won’t make life affordable or restore faith in our democratic system of Government if we don’t make Government smaller, and more responsive to people’s needs, starting at the very top.

For each thing that Government absolutely must do, we need a clear line of responsibility. One minister, one budget, one department, one accountability for results.

We won’t unlock New Zealand’s potential if Government sucks up a third of our money without getting results.

We won’t pretend that this will be easy, and know that the challenges are complex, but we think that New Zealand is worth fighting for.

There is no reason why New Zealand shouldn’t be the happiest, healthiest, wealthiest country on the planet.

We live on stunning islands rich in natural resources.

We have a national character that is respected around the world for being decent people, for doing what we say we’re going to do.

We have a free and democratic society with British institutions that are the envy of the world.

So what’s holding us back? As the greatest New Zealander said, ‘it’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.’

We are held back by bloated inefficient Government. Today is about how we fix that.

We are held back by a labyrinth of red tape and stupid rules. The Ministry for Regulation has fixed that in some areas, and ACT will be announcing next steps on the campaign.

We are held back by our obsession with identity politics. We’re sick of arguing about who got here first.

Again, ACT will be the clearest and bravest party on one law for all and one future together.

Only one party can say three things:

• We’re not Labour
• We’ve never worked with Labour
• We’re not Labour-lite

Our team has spent the last three years doing it.

We’ve cut the waste and red tape. We’ve stopped racist policy to assert our fundamental rights to equal dignity no matter when our ancestors arrived.

Now I hope you’ll do it.

Tell your friends, your family, your colleagues and anyone else you encounter for the next 132 days.

Campaign with our candidates, put a sign on your fence, donate to our campaign so we can advertise past the media.

Be the tireless minority setting alight brushfires of freedom in our fellow New Zealanders’ minds.

Because this country does not belong to the socialists. We must lock them out before they blow up the joint in a hail of mediocrity.

It belongs to those who try, who believe a better tomorrow is in our hands, that our efforts can make a difference.

Let’s get out there and campaign like hell to unlock this great country’s potential.

by Penny Marie

Beware of teachers who tell your children WHAT to think instead of teaching them HOW to think

Last week secondary school teacher’s union PPTA’s President Chris Abercrombie launched into the media stating his concern about students accessing social media ‘misinformation’ has led the union to plan on developing guidelines for teachers to help them deal with students who have ‘wrong think’ (my words, not theirs).

Education as a mechanism for social change and censorship

This article was published by The Press on June 26.

• Accusatory language being used to describe students who have a view that’s different to their teachers’. Described as ‘extreme far-right’. Not only are the cohort of teachers quoted displaying alarm at students who have different points or view, they are calling those differences extreme. But are they really? And are political views in students the REAL reason kids are misbehaving?
• Who let teachers unions and schools be our censorship agency? What they call ‘misinformation’ is literally… information people independently seek, outside of their ‘single source of truth’ government/media/education apparatus. They appear to be getting very concerned about students who think outside of their box.

Here is the full article:

Extreme examples are used to illustrate their point. The problem is, when political ideology has become such a big part of the education system that it promotes toxic feminism and anti-maleness, kids are going to push back. Does resistance to a far-left ideology deserve the term ‘far-right extremism’? Let’s unpack the descriptors used in this story…

Manosphere

The UN Women (no surprises) definition of manosphere is “a loose network of communities that claim to address men’s struggles – dating, fitness or fatherhood, for example – but often promote harmful advice and attitudes.”

In short, it appears to be a hit on men who behave as, well, men. It’s a hit on boys being boys, on the masculine, and a hit on husbands. Birthed out of the feminist movement because men being men are exactly what hard-core feminists can’t abide.

I’ve never been a feminist. Some assume I am because I am a woman who has a voice. But a woman with a voices does not necessarily = feminism. In my case it certainly doesn’t. My son even called me a feminist once, because I disagreed with him about something. I corrected him then, and I’ll correct people now. I’m a woman with something to say. That’s not the same thing as being a feminist. Perhaps listen to what I am saying before casting that name on me.

What the world needs more than ever is men who know how to be men. Men who can embody their masculine and teach our boys how to be good men. In a society with good men, our women are protected, not vulnerable.

‘Trad-wife’ culture

AUT says trad wives are “women who choose to take up traditional gendered roles within the home, centred around serving their husband and children. This version of wifehood is underpinned by a deference to one’s husband. Because of this, tradwives tend to be financially dependent on their husbands and many also give over decision-making rights to their husbands. In essence, the tradwife lifestyle rejects the past seven decades of feminism.”

In short, it’s a hit on women who stay home, raise children, and God-forbid, wives who love and honour their husbands. It seems that radfems (radical feminists) are threatened by women who aren’t feminists. They are threatened by women like me. Who, no matter how much we might acknowledge that men in our lives have perhaps failed us (because women like me will also admit our failures)… we will still say that we love, value and appreciate men.

I am a mother to sons. More than ever we need good men to role model how to become a good man. Our boys need to witness them. And so do our girls. How on earth can it be seen when the pseudo-cultures of ‘manosphere’ and ‘trad wife’ is allowed to thrive?

Homophobia

First, what is a phobia? It is “…an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation” – Merriam Webster Dictionary

What is homophobia? “Discrimination against, aversion to, or fear of homosexuality (sexual or romantic attraction to others of one’s same sex) or gay people.” – Merriam Webster Dictionary

I haven’t met anyone who has an “exaggerated fear” of homosexuals. It’s simply not a thing. So why do we hear it used, again and again. Because in order to shut down dialogue they first have to silence the opposition. Call us names. Shame us. Make us feel guilty, mean, uncertain.

Who were the main critics of the homosexual lifestyle? Christians. Why? Because it’s in the Bible. Even so, very very few people raise an eyebrow now if someone says they are homosexual. Like with the ‘trans’ narrative, it is THEY who are saying we’re all so mean to them. It’s not the actual truth. The same-sex attracted people I know, do not want to be associated with this oppressed/oppressor whinge session.

So far, we’ve read that ‘manosphere’ is anti-husband, ‘trad-wife’ is anti-wife, and ‘homophobia’ is anti-biblical principles. They are trying to kill conservativism, and when conservatives push back, the liberal left scream like banshees. Educators, media, politicians, activists. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING.

I never considered myself particularly ‘conservative’. But the more the liberal left show themselves, the more I understand that a society bereft of conservative values and biblical principles – the worse it becomes. Bar none.

Transphobia

Refer to the definition of a ‘phobia’ above. Now it’s been attached to ‘trans’. So what is ‘trans’? The UN (again) defines ‘trans’ as “Being trans or transgender describes people with a gender identity that does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.”

BUT: ‘Trans’, and ‘transgender’ do not appear in any NZ law or statue. Nor do these descriptors appear in any international law or treaty that NZ is bound by. The term ‘gender identity’ is the umbrella phrase ‘trans-identified’ people use. Which is exactly why it’s such a concerning phrase. It’s their trojan horse. Which is why I keep banging on about their definition of ‘gender identity’.

Trans people say they need special protections and categories. They don’t. They have the same protections as men and women do. Why? Because – they are either men or women. There is no third category and all people (even ‘trans-identifying people’) are either men or women. It’s not ‘phobic’ to say this. I don’t have a ‘phobia’ of them. And they simply don’t actually exist in law.

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The media propogates the message

In the days following The Posts’ article on the PPTA panicking over the ‘far-right extremist’ students, the NZ Herald and RNZ (and likely others) dutifully picked up and propagated the message. It has a chilling, shaming and social engineering impact on our nation and the kickback then amplifies the noisiest of both camps – further dividing us.

Yes, children are becoming unmanageable in school. Yes, it’s a massive problem. But from the many people I speak to… ‘manosphere’ and ‘trad wife’ thoughts aren’t the cause of the issue. Far from it. What we need is an honest inquiry into why our students are behaving worse, and the current strategies to help this, that appear to not be helping at all. I hear reports of teachers being threatened and disrespected throughout NZ… and it’s generally not ‘far right extremist’ students leading the charge.

Antisemitism and Ani-maori racism

Two important inclusions in the PPTA’s list of ‘far right extremism’ – but I won’t dive into in this article, I’ll save these for another day.

I highly recommend this deep dive by Rick the Anglo Saxon about this story, where you’ll see the claims by PPTA Union President Chris Abercrombie are not based on facts.

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‘Trump Boys’ and ‘student extremism’

Remember when Paul Stevens, head of the Art Department at Rangitoto College and PPTA Auckland regional chairperson, got media attention for this…

Stevens “presented a report on rising online extremism in classrooms at the PPTA’s annual conference in Christchurch. Secondary school teachers in New Zealand are witnessing an alarming rise in extremism among students, with young men particularly susceptible to misogynistic ideologies promoted by figures like Andrew Tate. Whether it’s young students strutting around as the “Trump boys”, or submitting social science assignments with ‘trad-wife’ (traditional wife) ideologies, secondary school teacher Paul Stevens said the issue has reached “a tipping point” in the past two years.” – says The Press.

It’s the same playbook as the story with Abercrombie. A continuation of the same narrative. Stevens takes an extreme public figure, Tate, and attaches students who aren’t left-wing liberals to it, calling them Trump Boys. hoping that the smear sticks, because we’ve had over a decade of anti-Trump rhetoric.

How this inversion looks in the classroom

I received this troubling school activity…

This is in a NZ high school Social Studies activity. Students were asked to interpret the cartoons. US President Donald Trump is here depicted as a member of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The KKK is an American white supremacist hate group known for its history of violence and intimidation against minority groups, particularly African Americans. – source Wikipedia

And the White House, is depicted as the head of the KKK with a white triangle over it.

The irony is, the far-left liberal US Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was recently found to have been funding the KKK. SPLC had put conservative group Turning Point on their ‘hate group’ watch.

“The SPLC has been accused of funneling millions of dollars into the very extremist hate groups that it purports to combat. Yes, the self-proclaimed “catalyst for racial justice” that aims to “dismantle white supremacy” was charged with directly putting money into the pockets of groups like the Ku Klux Klan.” – Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

International influence on NZ education sector

The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report 2025 lists ‘misinformation and disinformation’ as its fourth most worrisome threat. The WEF (not the people) are concerned about freedom of speech and expression via social media. This is why we are seeing a rush on social media age verification laws. And why liberal teachers are imposing their political opinions on our children as if it is fact. They don’t want our children to see beyond their ideology. (I guess most teachers would have no idea where their extreme views are coming from – they think they are having their own thoughts…).

Are educators building a wedge between parents and children?

Consider this scenario… you send your daughter to school and expect her to listen to the teacher, follow the school rules. She attends a class where the teacher presents, for example, climate alarmism or anti-Trump rhetoric.

Your daughter comes home and repeats what she has learnt in class. You question or disagree with her – perhaps you don’t believe in climate alarmism, or have a different viewpoint on geopolitics.

What happens? She will likely argue with you, because it conflicts with what she just learnt. This causes tension at home. Look at this through your daughter’s eyes. Who should she believe? Their teacher or you? Does she see mum and dad as her most primary educator, or does she see you as a provider of food, shelter and taxi service, and her teacher as the expert? It can get even worse when mum and dad have conflicting ideas about these topics. Who does your daughter ‘side’ with? Invariably with the majority (teacher plus one parent).

This contributes to tension in the home. Whether you’re liberal or conservative… or don’t class yourself as either, should education include contested political ideology? Or should education focus on the main pillars of education? Do we even know what they are anymore?

For further reading on the philosophy of education, and it’s concerning absence in our education system, I recommend reading this post by Elisabeth Cave…

Exposing and Healing from Identity Disruption

I’ve been banned from PESA’s Facebook page for raising questions about the aims of philosophers of education

PESA stands for the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia. About 2 years ago, I joined and was a member for a year, and was very excited to join and anticipated discovering other people who could see and discuss the obvious horrendous indoctrination that’s happening in schools, and perhaps even do something about it…

More Ukrainian war crimes against unarmed civilians.

Retreating Ukrainian soldiers dropped anti tank mines into basements full of civilians as they fled Konstantinovka.

An elderly survivor clearly outlines the horrors of what happened. pic.twitter.com/IYNlgnOJQS

— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) June 28, 2026

The way Zeleneksy/Nato thugs even behave towards Ukrainians on the street:-

https://twitter.com/OlgaBazova/status/2070772346063839663?s=20

by Geoffrey Churchman

Yesterday during one of my regular chats with Nigel Wilson of KC News, he mentioned that well over half of their views come from people with Smartphones. In WW’s case, however, the vast bulk come from desktop/laptop users:

As is shown, mobile phones are only 19% of the total. Do people wanting news use their phones on the bus or the train? WW isn’t really aimed at news so much as commentary and analysis that is contrary to what the Mainstream Legacy Media churn out, so it is a different audience.

The pretty pictures we post wont be properly appreciated on a little cellphone screen, and obviously from this screenshot, that’s what Google prefers to our political stories:

Even the first line they repeat — taken out of context — suggests that we are pro-Ukraine which we are not, at least we are not for the ultra corrupt government the CIA installed in 2014 and spends massive money on propping up, along with the EU and Starmer’s UK.

This screenshot also reveals how Google’s algorithims are set up to promote Globalist views and censor nationalist ones. The same is now true of Microsoft and its Bing search engine. Microsoft openly supports Israel and the IDF — criticism of these will be downranked or omitted. It also is openly anti-Russian.

The key thing we ask readers to do is share our posts on social media, that helps combat the swiftly flowing river of pro-War Globalism we swim upstream against.

While we shiver in 11-C temperatures, in Europe it’s been hot (by their standards which means 30-C+). so this could help cope 🙂

Ukraine has now attacked more NATO countries than the USSR, Russia, North Korea, China and Iran combined.

Slowly, the reality of what Brussels has created is dawning. An uncontrollable Mafia state flushed with money and weapons. The perfect storm is approaching the EU. pic.twitter.com/Ae2TFrKiHg

— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) June 27, 2026

and Europe’s biggest gangster.

But Denmark decides it’s going to force Ukrainian men who sought refuge there to go back and die in Zelensky/Nato’s meat mincer.

If Denmark is going to behave like this, then Trump should just move in and seize Greenland from them.

by Wally Richards

A GARDENING BOON; CONDY’S CRYSTALS

Potassium Permanganate (Condy’s Crystals) has numerous uses in gardening as well as in other applications.

The origin of the chemical and its common name is as follows:

In 1659 a German chemist, J.R. Glauber, fused a mixture of the mineral pyrolusite and potassium carbonate to obtain a material that, when dissolved in water, gave a green solution (potassium manganate) which slowly shifted to violet potassium permanganate and then finally red.

This report represents the first description of the production of potassium permanganate.

Just under two hundred years later London chemist Henry Bollmann Condy had an interest in disinfectants, and marketed several products including ozonised water.

He found that fusing pyrolusite with NaOH and dissolving it in water produced a solution with disinfectant properties. He patented this solution, and marketed it as Condy’s Fluid. Although effective, the solution was not very stable. This was overcome by using KOH rather than NaOH.

This was more stable, and had the advantage of easy conversion to the equally effective potassium permanganate crystals.

This crystalline material was known as Condy’s crystals or Condy’s powder.

Potassium permanganate was comparatively easy to manufacture so Condy was subsequently forced to spend considerable time in litigation in order to stop competitors from marketing products similar to Condy’s Fluid or Condy’s Crystals.

I remember as a boy that if one had a sore throat a mild tincture of Condy’s Crystals would be made up to use as a gargle. This would kill the bacteria which was causing the sore throat.

“The use of a weak solution of Condys crystals as an antiseptic wash or bath for eczema, vulvovaginitis, vaginal thrush and recurrent urine infection in adults and children is neglected. This safe, simple and effective treatment was used in pre-antibiotic days as a vaginal douche in obstetrics following the birth of the baby.” (That was from a Doctors web site)

Condys Crystals is good for:

* club root in brassicas & other susceptible plants.

* control for moss in lawns

* carrot fly deterrent.

* control powdery mildew in gardens.

* Black spot & mildew on roses. 5 grams to 5 litres.

* Tomatoes:Occasional watering with Condys Crystals will act as a tonic improving flavour and colour

* Sterilize soil.

• Disinfectant.
• Staining Timber and deer anthers.
• Fungus control on fish in tanks and ponds. (very mild solution)
• Fungus toe nail and athletic foot (about a teaspoon into a basin of water to soak foot)
• sterilising drinking water
• starting a fire: potassium permanganate mixed with sugar can ignite and produce a fire under the right conditions, because permanganate is a strong oxidizer and sugar is a fuel.
• The mixture is dangerous and can generate enough heat to burn or start surrounding material.

I originally came across the gardening use of Condy’s Crystals from a South Island gardener who told me how to apply the chemical for club root control in brassicas.

Dissolve a quarter teaspoon of Condy’s Crystals in one litre of water along with 3 desert spoons of common salt.

Once dissolved the coloured mix is added to a further 9 litres of water and stirred to mix.

One litre of the above is then poured into each planting hole where a cabbage or other brassica is to grow. The preparation sterilizes the surrounding soil and reduces damage to the roots from the club root disease.

A number of gardeners like to sterilize the soil in glasshouses or in areas where the same crop is grown year after year such as tomatoes.

My suggestion is to make up the above preparation as for club root, but to use only half the amount of water thus doubling the strength of the solution.

This then is watered over 3 to 5 square metres of soil that you wish to treat. The soil should be moist, but not wet prior to application. Leave for a week or so then water the area lightly to force the solution deeper into the soil.

About a week or two prior to planting in the area, flood the soil to wash away any residue that maybe left.

For moss control in lawns place one full teaspoon into 9 litres of water and spray over the moss.

Am alternative to this for moss, use Wallys Moss and Liverwort Control.

To deter carrot fly add a few grains of Condy’s Crystals to water to make a light pinky colour and spray this over the young carrot tops.

Some years ago another South Island gardener told me how he controlled rust on celery.

At the first sign of rust a quarter teaspoon of Condy’s Crystals to/ a litre of water would be made up and sprayed over the celery for complete coverage. This would be repeated as needed.

The gardener told me that it worked a treat and as long as he used it, his celery would be rust free.

I have found that since then the same can be used on any plants to help control rust disease.

This then can be extended to control of other fungus diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew.

These later two can also be prevented or controlled with the use of Baking Soda (a heaped tablespoon to a litre of water with one mil of Raingard added.)

At this time of the year make up the solution (dissolve a quarter teaspoon of Condy’s Crystals in one litre of water along with 3 desert spoons of common salt.) Then spray this over your roses and the surrounding soil to kill any disease spores that maybe waiting for spring to attack.

Other deciduous plants such as fruit trees could be treated in a like manner for various diseases such as curly leaf, black spot, brown rot and bladder plum.

Repeat in the spring when the plants are starting to move or /and again at first sign of disease such as black spot etc.

Condy’s Crystals are cheap when compared to many other sprays.

A number of garden centres stock 200 gram jars of Condys Crystals sold under the correct name KmnO4 Potassium Permanganate..

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

On Sunday 19 July the Waikanae Music Society will present the Elouan Quartet with Bridget Douglas (flute) in a concert featuring a wide variety of music for flute and strings.

All of the ensemble are prominent New Zealand Symphony Orchestra members and their concert is part of a nation-wide Chamber Music New Zealand tour. The performance opens with a quintet by popular Australian composer Elena Kats Chernin, followed by one of the best-loved works for flute and string – Mozart’s Flute Quartet.

A novel item follows with New Zealand composer’s Ken Wilson’s Introduction, Theme and Variations, which will showcase Bridget Douglas playing on an extremely rare piccolo. Ken Wilson was a foundation clarinettist of the National Orchestra of New Zealand (now NZSO) and the piccolo belonged to the orchestra’s flautist Richard Giese, who had a vast collection of unusual instruments. The Elouan strings will then present one of Beethoven’s legendary last works – the String Quartet No 16 in F major. On a lighter note the concert will close with Nightclub from Astor Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango.

The concert will be at 2.30pm in the Waikanae Memorial Hall on 19 July. Ticket enquiries:
www.waikanaemusic.org.nz