<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Bassett, Brash & Hide]]></title><description><![CDATA[Brash&Mitchell]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/home</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 06:39:11 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.brashandmitchell.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[DON BRASH: Let New Zealand decide the future of Māori seats ]]></title><description><![CDATA[The following is written in Don's capacity as Hobson's Pledge trustee At Hobson’s Pledge, our position has always been clear and unwavering: it is time to abolish the Māori seats in Parliament. Our reasoning is straightforward. In a modern, healthy democracy, citizens succeed on merit - not ancestry. And right now, Māori MPs are already achieving incredible success in their own right, winning general electorate seats and earning high list rankings across the political spectrum. That is...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/don-brash-let-new-zealand-decide-the-future-of-m%C4%81ori-seats</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2f833000dbe48b1c7af96c</guid><pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 05:25:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_2947fe4ce58848a681ec1a27681251da~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_155,h_204,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[GRAEME REEVES: The Constitutional Revolution New Zealand Pretends Is Not Happening]]></title><description><![CDATA[There are moments in a nation’s history when power shifts so gradually, so quietly, and so bureaucratically that the public fails to recognise the transformation until the new order is already entrenched. New Zealand may now be living through precisely such a moment. The Tiaki Wai agreement is not merely a water governance document. It is a warning flare. A glimpse into a constitutional future being constructed incrementally, contractually, and largely beyond the direct awareness or explicit...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/graeme-reeves-the-constitutional-revolution-new-zealand-pretends-is-not-happening</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2f2a84963b3c1436ea405e</guid><pubDate>Sun, 14 Jun 2026 22:37:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_9d5cf296bbc14fd38f5ce9b6b807e0ff~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_96,h_96,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ John McLean: HALF MEASURES]]></title><description><![CDATA[…which leave New Zealand’s public “servants” free to fill their DEI boots On 2 June 2026, changes relating to Diversity, Equity &#38; Inclusion (DEI) were made to New Zealand’s Public Service Act 2020. The changes, initiated by the New Zealand First political party:  removed mandatory requirements for public service chief executives to:         “be guided by the principle that the group comprising all public service employees should reflect the makeup of society”         “in employment policies...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/john-mclean-half-measures</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2df33600dbe48b1c782838</guid><pubDate>Sun, 14 Jun 2026 02:12:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_494fa66816f6446db403afaca7ce66dc~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_200,h_200,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[MICHAEL JOHNSTON: A test case for universities ]]></title><description><![CDATA[In May 2025, University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson eloquently explained why universities, as institutions, should be neutral on matters of public and political debate. If universities take stances on political issues, he said, they place members of their communities with different views in a difficult position. Robertson made those comments when he presented his university’s statement on institutional neutrality, required under the Education and Training Amendment Act 2025. The...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/michael-johnston-a-test-case-for-universities</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2d12748d10dcf62892c24d</guid><pubDate>Sat, 13 Jun 2026 20:31:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_cb227fa874d146f8b1d0d4bb417bd245~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_300,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[OLIVER HARTWICH: On borrowed calm ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Across the Tasman, anger has propelled Pauline Hanson’s One Nation from a fringe outfit to the most popular party, on 31 percent in a recent poll, ahead of both Labor and the Coalition. Yet Australia’s preferential voting, which redistributes losing candidates’ votes, could still return a Labor government. The same anger is loose across the democratic world, the product of a decade of crises that squeezed household budgets and loosened party loyalties. What it does to each country’s politics...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/oliver-hartwich-on-borrowed-calm</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2cd886b00e8ceeb1fee323</guid><pubDate>Sat, 13 Jun 2026 04:16:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_bca3d6f255fd46b0ac1734a1e981b89b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_300,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ROGER PARTRIDGE: The Market for Doom: Why We Keep Predicting the End of Work]]></title><description><![CDATA[Last month’s Schumpeter Comes to Wellington argued that the outcry over public service cuts in New Zealand sits in a long tradition of failed catastrophism. This month’s Long Read widens the lens and asks why generation after generation makes the same mistake – and why warnings about AI destroying work are no more convincing than the warnings that preceded them. Thirty years ago, Jeremy Rifkin predicted the end of work. Within a generation, he wrote in 1995, automation would leave most of the...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/roger-partridge-the-market-for-doom-why-we-keep-predicting-the-end-of-work</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2c5982ac42b101a9d4b0ea</guid><pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 19:57:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_48ce4ea718e14730b9f817edc00dac8c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[PETER WILLIAMS: Don't take the Opportunity]]></title><description><![CDATA[Any day now the June Curia-Taxpayers Union political poll will be released. It’s less than five months to the 2026 election, the time that polling numbers start to matter. Last month a party which rebranded as Opportunity (formerly The Opportunities Party or TOP) scored 2.8 percent in the Curia-TU poll. In April Opportunity cracked through to 3.3 percent in the 1 News Verian survey. For a party with a seriously low profile since the departure of founder Gareth Morgan those figures in...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/peter-williams-don-t-take-the-opportunity</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2b0294418318a8f7dea3f9</guid><pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 02:32:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_059d07f9f9ee4602856cdb17986f5c3a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_135,h_156,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[DON BRASH: The New Zealand Army's dark secret]]></title><description><![CDATA[The following is written in Don's capacity as Hobson's Pledge trustee When we launched our Professionals, not Politicians campaign, we knew ideological capture had taken deep root in professions across New Zealand. But a chilling new example has just come to light—and it proves exactly why we must draw a line in the sand right now. Our public servants are also being targeted and are no longer just being asked to implement political agendas. They are now being legally compelled to adopt...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/don-brash-the-new-zealand-army-s-dark-secret</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a29d2aff8e7e84c72c0769d</guid><pubDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:23:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_021307440f734a8cab5f8451a0df184e~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_155,h_204,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Don Brash</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ALFRED JOHNS: What is destroying New Zealand - yes, we were warned]]></title><description><![CDATA[Former U.S. President Barack Obama was speaking to Americans—not New Zealanders—when he issued this warning in 2006. Yet his words seem uncannily relevant to New Zealand today.          “Ethnic-based tribal politics has to stop. It is rooted in the bankrupt idea that the goal of politics or business is to funnel as much of the pie as possible to one’s family, tribe, or circle with little regard for the public good.         It stifles innovation and fractures the fabric of society. Instead of...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/alfred-johns-what-is-destroying-new-zealand-yes-we-were-warned</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a29ce158ae4d2c74dd0a01d</guid><pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2026 21:02:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_2171833e17314616b560279db090d051~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_180,h_280,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[JORDAN WILLIAMS: Chris Hipkins wants to tax your holiday home so you can pay for his]]></title><description><![CDATA[We all know politicians "take the piss" when it comes to entitlements. But have you seen the news about Chris Hipkins? He has taken it to a whole new level. The most common rort is when MPs claim a tax-free Wellington accommodation allowance when they already own an apartment in Wellington. National's Louise Upston has been in the firing line for this – but at least she has the excuse of needing somewhere to stay in Wellington. NZ First's Andy Foster – literally the former Mayor of Wellington...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/jordan-williams-chris-hipkins-wants-to-tax-your-holiday-home-so-you-can-pay-for-his</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a28d1ce99361b5d20d5f7d4</guid><pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2026 03:22:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_bd492638759a45f7857591141bfcd768~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_172,h_220,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[GRAHAM ADAMS: Is UNDRIP really an easy win for Winston? ]]></title><description><![CDATA[With National widely regarded as falling somewhere between half-hearted and hopeless on rolling back co-governance, its coalition partners are in fierce competition for voters who object to Maorification and reject any interpretation of the Treaty that implies a partnership between the Crown and iwi.  Act has scored the most recent bragging rights by persuading National to ensure only elected councillors can vote on most council committees. This win follows NZ First’s push to amend or repeal...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/graham-adams-is-undrip-really-an-easy-win-for-winston</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a275fc5bcf454bfefdc78fe</guid><pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:04:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_3de95095e60c4fd8bbbd8cb694c13d25~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_960,h_960,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[OLIVER HARTWICH: A feel-good law with a global track record of failure ]]></title><description><![CDATA[To most New Zealanders in 2026, slavery sounds like a relic of past centuries and faraway places. Unfortunately, it is not. Forced labour, trafficking and debt bondage still trap millions worldwide, often in countries we trade with, from the cotton fields of Xinjiang to the fishing boats of South-East Asia. Wanting to do something about such injustices is understandable. That said, good intentions do not automatically make good law. The Modern Slavery Bill, introduced by Labour’s Camilla...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/oliver-hartwich-a-feel-good-law-with-a-global-track-record-of-failure</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2709624f1a881169519bfa</guid><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:09:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_bca3d6f255fd46b0ac1734a1e981b89b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_300,h_300,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[PETER WILLIAMS: Maori seat manipulation]]></title><description><![CDATA[How a clever campaign could help derail Chris Bishop There’s an intriguing campaign underway to try and manipulate the existence of the Māori electorates at the next two elections – this year and 2029 - and possibly for 2032 as well. That’s because the existence of seven such constituencies is guaranteed through the next two elections and there won’t be a review of their number and boundaries until at least 2030. Now that the census has been abandoned and replaced with otherwise available...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/peter-williams-maori-seat-manipulation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2645bb579005354a9ac273</guid><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2026 05:49:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_059d07f9f9ee4602856cdb17986f5c3a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_135,h_156,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[DON BRASH: WE MUST STOP SUB-CONTRACTING OUR FOREIGN POLICY TO WASHINGTON]]></title><description><![CDATA[For most of the years since 1945, New Zealand has regarded itself as a friend and ally of the United States.  America had saved us from invasion by Japan at the Battle of Midway, and many New Zealanders served alongside Americans in the Pacific and, to a lesser extent, in Europe.  They were the “good guys in white hats”.   We sent troops to fight alongside the Americans in Korea, in Vietnam, and in Afghanistan, and until the Fourth Labour Government pushed back against nuclear-armed ships...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/don-brash-we-must-stop-sub-contracting-our-foreign-policy-to-washington</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a24f55a1f44c606b37acbd8</guid><pubDate>Sun, 07 Jun 2026 07:02:55 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_021307440f734a8cab5f8451a0df184e~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_155,h_204,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Don Brash</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[JOHN McLEAN: IS AMERICA'S 250th "BIRTHDAY" WORTH CELEBRATING?]]></title><description><![CDATA[On 4th July, 2026, is the United States 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence in 1776. It is being celebrated in America and around the world with a whole lot of ra-ra-ra, coloured balloons, silly hats and endless entertainment in Washington's National Mall by various Z-List performers. Should we celebrate? Over the years there has been much to admire in America - its economic advance, the energy of its people, their successful work practices, the excellent service in their...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/john-mclean-is-america-s-250th-birthday-worth-celebrating</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a24cb011f44c606b37a7a53</guid><pubDate>Sun, 07 Jun 2026 02:06:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_0237d7fe863b4cc58c270dd5d6be26a7~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_275,h_183,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[IVAN BARNETT: THE LONE GOOSE, THE ABANDONED FLOCK, AND A GOVERNMENT THAT HAS TURNED ITS BACK ON THE PUBLIC]]></title><description><![CDATA[For the first time in my lifetime, I am witnessing a Government that is distancing itself from the public, ignoring the voices of the people who elected it, and aligning itself instead with unelected iwi authorities who now hold increasing power over public assets, public services, and public decision‑making. Just as in nature, when the lead goose breaks formation and flies away, the flock is left struggling in turbulence — directionless, unsupported, and burdened. A Prime Minister who leaves...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/ivan-barnett-the-lone-goose-the-abandoned-flock-and-a-government-that-has-turned-its-back-on-the</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a229036f64e529b409c5561</guid><pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2026 04:29:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_1ee7092004c44d1fa6de5969deeebb15~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_275,h_183,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[LINDSAY MITCHELL: Colonisation blamed for Maori Meth use]]></title><description><![CDATA[Here is yet another example of a taxpayer-funded health professional teaching that self-destructive behaviour by Maori is the fault of colonisation: land dispossession, loss of language, attack on family structures, attack on belief systems etc. The above slide is part of a presentation from  Oranga Tamariki Team leader Psychology, Health and Clinical Services. It was published in April this year. Given it's Maori gangs - Mongrel Mob and Black Power - predominantly selling the drug, it's to...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/lindsay-mitchell-colonisation-blamed-for-maori-meth-use</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a224c631f44c606b37649de</guid><pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2026 06:46:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_f1ba4f28be104dad96457dd25965f33c~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_703,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ROGER DOUGLAS: New Zealand's Super Disaster - Time to Face Reality]]></title><description><![CDATA[New Zealand’s serious superannuation problems began in 1976 when the Muldoon Government replaced Labour’s compulsory super savings scheme with a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) system. That single decision changed everything. PAYGO allowed politicians to make generous promises without having to fund them properly. It created massive unfunded liabilities — IOUs that future generations would have to pay. Today those unfunded liabilities stand at around $2 trillion. The burden falls squarely on the young....]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/roger-douglas-new-zealand-s-super-disaster-time-to-face-reality</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a21e469e3c740ba36376b25</guid><pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2026 01:36:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_8799ddd6816a4e1a93bc6aac22061e39~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_220,h_218,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[ROGER PARTRIDGE: Why the Left Keeps Misdiagnosing Populism]]></title><description><![CDATA[This column was first published by CapX, the online newspaper of London’s Centre for Policy Studies, on 3 June 2026. It was written for a British audience, but the diagnostic mistake it identifies is universal. Andy Burnham has one prescription, and he means to fill it, whatever the patient walks in with. The man with the broken arm, the woman with chest pains, the child with a fever: each leaves the surgery with the same pad of repeat scripts, which call for higher taxes on the rich, more...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/roger-partridge-why-the-left-keeps-misdiagnosing-populism</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a21dadce3c740ba36375590</guid><pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:16:27 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_48ce4ea718e14730b9f817edc00dac8c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[JOHN RAINE: Our Culture - Can National Learn from Australia or the U.K. in Election Year?]]></title><description><![CDATA[The British Labour Party reacted with disbelief to the massive voter shift to the Reform Party in the early May Local Council elections, but the Labour response has been an astonishing doubling down on the existing policy positions (“we need to tell our story better”) that alienated their traditional voter base. The UK government has been disliked to the point of civil unrest for policies such as the acceptance of and economic support for tens of thousands of illegal immigrants each year;...]]></description><link>https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/john-raine-our-culture-can-national-learn-from-australia-or-the-u-k-in-election-year</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a2091ba43116cbc2f79561a</guid><pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:52:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/7b14b8_8fb9be57a35e4954bf2ff3ed201998a5~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Administrator</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>