https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/rss NZME Chris Potter is a leading New Zealand political commentator, columnist for Newstalk ZB plus, the founding author of The New Zealand Political Review and au Tue, 26 May 2026 07:59:41 Z en https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-just-say-yes/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-just-say-yes/ The Government's fast-track legislation is an extreme response to a besetting administrative problem. In typically colourful language, Shane Jones has described this problem as “bureaucratic constipation”. Once a project enters New Zealand’s current planning process, an unconscionable amount of time… Thu, 06 Jun 2024 17:00:47 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-too-many-to-die/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-too-many-to-die/ The Lakota people, better known to movie-goers as the Sioux, had a saying about their inter-tribal skirmishes. Wed, 29 May 2024 23:09:38 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-ending-the-culture-war-that-labour-started/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-ending-the-culture-war-that-labour-started/ Culture wars are not meant to be won, they are meant to distract. Distract from what? Well, in the immortal words of Johnny Strabler (Marlon Brando) in The Wild One: “What have you got?” Thu, 23 May 2024 21:49:50 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-making-our-health-system-amount-to-a-can-of-beans/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-making-our-health-system-amount-to-a-can-of-beans/ “The problem with health is that it is run by health.” According to Ian Powell, the former boss of the union representing salaried medical specialists, this is the view of the Prime Minister. When it comes to the health sector,… Thu, 16 May 2024 17:00:04 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-willis-not-about-to-deliver-her-own-black-budget/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-willis-not-about-to-deliver-her-own-black-budget/ In the end, it all comes down to taxes. This Government has promised to cut New Zealanders’ income tax, and that is precisely what the Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is determined to announce on May 30 when she delivers… Thu, 09 May 2024 17:00:09 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-on-watching-the-nypd-enter-columbia-university/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-on-watching-the-nypd-enter-columbia-university/ It is such a small world. There was I, seated in front of a television set in suburban Auckland, watching the NYPD clear Columbia University of pro-Palestinian protesters, live, on CNN. It was night-time in New York City, but the… Thu, 02 May 2024 17:00:04 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-a-reluctant-revolutionary/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-a-reluctant-revolutionary/ Revolutionary governments can teach us many things, not the least of which is what to expect when ideologies clash head-on. Thu, 25 Apr 2024 21:32:07 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-collision-course/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-collision-course/ It was the cry that rang through the streets of Petrograd (St Petersburg) in the autumn of 1917: “All power to the soviets!” The crisis that it announced was that of “dual power”. Thu, 18 Apr 2024 17:50:18 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-saving-the-world-from-climate-change-one-judgement-at-a-time/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-saving-the-world-from-climate-change-one-judgement-at-a-time/ No doubt the European Court of Human Rights is congratulating itself on striking an important judicial blow against Climate Change. Thu, 11 Apr 2024 21:15:29 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-making-choices/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-making-choices/ “It's all about choices” is how Labour deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni defines the substance of political partisanship in New Zealand. She points to “the stark difference between the choices Labour made and the choices this National Government is making”. Sat, 06 Apr 2024 18:00:09 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-god-s-own-country/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-god-s-own-country/ Gloriavale docuseries Escaping Utopia, like Mr Bates v The Post Office, looks set to generate considerable upheaval. The question raised by both programmes is: “How could this have gone on for so long?” Thu, 28 Mar 2024 16:00:15 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-if-not-the-usa-europe-then-who/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-if-not-the-usa-europe-then-who/ Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand is not accidental. Thu, 21 Mar 2024 16:00:24 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-remembering-the-halcyon-days-of-tv3-news-current-affairs/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-remembering-the-halcyon-days-of-tv3-news-current-affairs/ For me, it will always be “TV3”. The “Newshub” name came later, as New Zealand’s first privately-owned television network was slowly dismembered and disposed of by owners who could never seem to make it pay. Or, perhaps that should be,… Wed, 28 Feb 2024 17:15:23 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-our-little-woes/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-our-little-woes/ It is helpful, at times, to obtain the perspective of someone from outside New Zealanders’ usual frame of reference. Events that seem extraordinarily important to us can strike recent arrivals as trivial in the extreme. This is particularly true of… Thu, 22 Feb 2024 16:01:00 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-frightened-of-the-people/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-frightened-of-the-people/ Fear of democracy is growing. Not among the overwhelming majority of voters, but among those who fear their “prejudices”. The ideological consensus of the social-liberal elites, painstakingly assembled over the past 40 years, is under threat.   Thu, 15 Feb 2024 16:00:20 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-challenging-democracy/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-challenging-democracy/ Just imagine if Prime-Minister Christopher Luxon had been escorted onto the Waitangi Treaty Ground by an armed company of infantry. Not in their crisp dress uniforms, mind, but in full battle-dress and carrying their Mars-L assault rifles with bayonets fixed.… Thu, 08 Feb 2024 16:00:06 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-james-shaw-departs-and-the-greens-are-diminished/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-james-shaw-departs-and-the-greens-are-diminished/ The Greens of the early 2000s made almost a fetish out of not joining in the general nastiness of the House. The party led by Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald was determined to show New Zealanders that politics did not… Thu, 01 Feb 2024 16:00:07 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-compromising-on-the-treaty/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-compromising-on-the-treaty/ "While the Māori King's hui was a strategic success,” opines angry left-wing blogger Martyn Bradbury, “it was a tactical failure.” Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:00:41 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-silence-is-golden/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-silence-is-golden/ Perhaps the current cacophony of voices castigating New Zealand’s foreign policy is simply attributable to the aggravations of impotence. Out of power, and likely to remain so for some time, what currently passes for the New Zealand Left has been… Thu, 18 Jan 2024 16:00:03 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-when-something-s-not-quite-right/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-when-something-s-not-quite-right/ One of the reasons former Prime Minister Rob Muldoon (who served from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party) remained so popular was his remarkable sensitivity to public outrage. When something happened to make conservative New Zealanders (and… Thu, 11 Jan 2024 16:00:40 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-welcoming-the-liberators/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-welcoming-the-liberators/ National, Act and NZ First have a problem. Like the American and British armoured columns rolling across the French countryside in 1944, they have been received as liberators. Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:24:22 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-time-to-take-the-treaty-seriously-mr-luxon/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-time-to-take-the-treaty-seriously-mr-luxon/ When Christopher Luxon was selling soap powder for Unilever in Canada, that country’s indigenous people were calling for decolonisation – loudly. Canada’s First Nations people, in contact with, and often inspired by the efforts of tangata whenua from Aotearoa, were… Thu, 07 Dec 2023 16:00:48 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-the-dangers-of-equity/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-the-dangers-of-equity/ With the swearing-in of the most right-wing government in half a century, New Zealand’s capitalists should be asking questions about “equity”. For the past six years “equity” has been the officially mandated outcome of public policy. The most important question… Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:00:58 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-stopping-the-di-revolution/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-stopping-the-di-revolution/ Are they going to stop? Thu, 23 Nov 2023 16:00:28 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-twere-were-well-it-were-done-quickly/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-twere-were-well-it-were-done-quickly/ Watching the Three Amigos attempting to pull together a coherent government certainly has its funny side. The mad dash for Wellington Airport that followed the news that “Winston’s gone home!” set a new benchmark in real-life political comedy. It did… Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:00:59 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-from-tragedy-to-farce/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-from-tragedy-to-farce/ And so it begins, the slow reassertion of the rank-and-file over Labour’s failed parliamentarians. There’s an inevitability to this process of democratic renewal. The failures of Labour’s caucus require a large measure of contrition from its members because, when all… Thu, 09 Nov 2023 16:00:55 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-winning-strategies/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-winning-strategies/ When Hamas launched its assault, it was not attacking the long-standing strategy of Israeli governments, it was relying on it. It’s fighters entered Southern Israel with explicit orders to commit atrocities calculated to drive the “Zionist Entity” mad with pain.… Thu, 02 Nov 2023 16:00:35 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-who-when-why/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-who-when-why/ Somewhere, in the digital memory of Radio New Zealand lies the electronic communication mandating the increased use of Te Reo. Whether in the form of an amendment to the state broadcaster’s style-book, as in – henceforth the name ‘Aotearoa’ is… Thu, 26 Oct 2023 16:00:21 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-what-the-right-has-won/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-what-the-right-has-won/ WHAT HAS THE RIGHT WON? Or, more accurately, who has the Right won? The answer to that question offers nothing but grief to the left of New Zealand politics. Thu, 19 Oct 2023 16:00:46 Z https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-when-the-devil-comes-knocking/ https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/chris-trotter/chris-trotter-when-the-devil-comes-knocking/ It is difficult to write about New Zealand’s election campaign without experiencing pangs of guilt. Here we are, five million of us, tucked away safely at the bottom of the world, grumbling and grousing about our political choices. Forgetting what… Thu, 12 Oct 2023 16:00:55 Z