Articles by John MacDonald
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Opinion
John MacDonald: What does kicking out overstayers actually achieve?
Friday, 5 September 2025, 12:44pmWhat does kicking overstayers out of the country actually achieve? With just under 21,000 overstayers in New Zealand, the...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: We'd be mad to pull out of the Paris agreement
Wednesday, 3 September 2025, 1:10pmWe would be mad to pull out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. ACT leader David Seymour thinks differently though,...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Who isn't talking to who at Christchurch City Council?
Tuesday, 2 September 2025, 1:33pmAt one point after the earthquakes, I had the insurance company telling me that it wanted to replace the driveway before...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: The KiwiSaver divide that needs sorting
Tuesday, 26 August 2025, 2:20pmI think it would be very easy to push-back on Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson’s call for changes to the KiwiSaver...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Why is performance pay such a no-no for teachers?
Wednesday, 20 August 2025, 12:45pmYou won’t get me tooting for the striking high school teachers. Because I don’t think they’re reading the room at all. On...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: How I feel about armed cops after this week's shootings
Friday, 15 August 2025, 1:17pmWhen I first heard about the police shooting and killing someone they had actually gone to help, like most people, I wondered...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Boris fronted-up to a Covid Inquiry - why aren't our lot?
Thursday, 14 August 2025, 1:34pmI can recall a conversation I had about a month ago with Labour leader and former Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins about Part...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: I asked an AI bot how it felt about marking exams
Wednesday, 6 August 2025, 1:01pmWith the Government wanting artificial intelligence to be used to mark high school exams, I asked a ChatGPT bot how it felt...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: I like the NCEA changes, but...
Tuesday, 5 August 2025, 12:32pmYesterday, when the Government announced that it was getting rid of NCEA, my immediate reaction was that it was a mistake....
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Gang numbers are up - so what next?
Wednesday, 30 July 2025, 12:30pmThe gangs were right, the Government was wrong. That’s one way to interpret the news that, for the first time, the number...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Now is not the time for 80% pay increases
Tuesday, 29 July 2025, 1:41pmI understand what the Prime Minister is saying about these pay increases for board members at Crown agencies, such as Health...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Isn't enrolling on election day better than not voting at all?
Friday, 25 July 2025, 1:04pmElection Day is like Christmas Day, with some of us not getting ourselves organised until the very last minute - even though...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: What do sport gender guidelines have to do with the price of butter?
Thursday, 24 July 2025, 1:27pmThere will be no shortage of people today thinking that it's a brilliant move by the Government to ditch official guidelines...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: The hardline stance on student loans is backfiring
Friday, 4 July 2025, 12:47pmI didn’t do any study after I left school —no university, no polytech— so I’ve never had a student loan. I know about debt...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Ferry privatisation would just be excusing KiwiRail's shortcomings
Tuesday, 1 July 2025, 12:58pmI don’t like this idea David Seymour’s pushing of privatising the Interislander ferry service and getting a private operator...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: All councils should learn from ECAN's open mind on rail
Thursday, 29 May 2025, 12:49pmI hope Environment Canterbury isn’t bothering listening to Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey. He’s not impressed that the regional...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Do we even need speed limits around the new stadium?
Thursday, 22 May 2025, 1:14pmThere’s a danger that when the new stadium opens in Christchurch next year, we'll have no idea exactly what speed we should...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: $600M for rail is a good start, but it's just a start
Tuesday, 20 May 2025, 12:55pmIn an ideal world, I would love us to have more trains. In an ideal world, I think it would be great if all our big cities...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Why no more after-hours funding for Christchurch?
Monday, 19 May 2025, 12:38pmHere’s a story someone told me this morning about what happened within the last six-or-so weeks, when a Christchurch woman...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: What I would do if I was running the new truancy service
Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 1:09pmWell done to the Government for making all the right noises about dealing with truancy. It’s going to spend $140 million...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: I've got a solution for the power bill problem
Tuesday, 13 May 2025, 1:22pmThis poll out today saying nearly half of us are more concerned about power prices than we were a year ago, is nonsense. Because...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: There will always be cars and idiots
Monday, 12 May 2025, 12:40pmThere are two things certain in this world. There will always be cars and there will always be idiots. That’s why this move...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: I'm not normally anti-bottle store, but...
Monday, 28 April 2025, 1:00pmI’ve surprised myself with my reaction to this plan to open a bottle store right across the road from the bus interchange,...
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Opinion
John MacDonald: Is prison the wrong place for some offenders?
Monday, 7 April 2025, 12:52pmI’m liking what Sir Ron Young is saying about prison sentences today. He’s really challenging us, saying that we need to...
