Can we have proper conversations about the Treaty, assisted dying, AI, farming, media, politics, & our future?

I appear to have agreed to tour New Zealand in winter

Time has flown by and next week I am setting off around New Zealand on the Free Speech Union’s Good Faith Yarns Tour: ten events, ten communities, a great many flights, and hopefully some interesting public conversations about some gnarlier topics.

We decided to do the tour because in an election year public debate feels louder, nastier, and increasingly useless. People talk past one another. Politicians recite lines. Social media rewards the most hysterical interpretation of everything. Meanwhile, many perfectly normal New Zealanders have concluded that it is safer to say nothing at all.

We want to try something a bit different.

At every stop, I will sit down with someone who knows their subject, has something interesting to say, and will not necessarily agree with me. These are not “debates” with winners, losers, buzzers, or point scoring. They are proper conversations between people willing to discuss, listen, and disagree honestly and in public.

Then we will hand the microphone over to the audience and have a substantial audience Q&A, so please come armed with questions!

Tickets are only $10. We didn’t want cost to be a barrier and realise money is tight for a lot of people.

Ticket sales go directly to the FSU to cover costs. I am donating my time.

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QUEENSTOWN — Tuesday 21 July, 6.30pm

Growth, Infrastructure, and Who Gets a Say

Guests: Queenstown Lakes Mayor John Glover and Mike Casey, CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa

Mayor John Glover and electrification advocate Mike Casey will join me to discuss who pays for growth, whether central and local government are getting the balance right, the future of Queenstown’s energy infrastructure, and how you build a genuine community in a district where so much of the population is transient.

Venue: Sherwood Queenstown, 554 Frankton Road

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CHRISTCHURCH — Wednesday 22 July, 6.30pm

Partnership, Representation and the Treaty Debate

Guest: Professor Te Maire Tau, Ūpoko of Ngāi Tūāhuriri

We will discuss the legacy of the Ngāi Tahu settlement, Māori political representation, the aftermath of the Treaty Principles Bill, whether the Treaty should operate as a constitutional document, and how New Zealand can have a serious conversation about these matters when so many people fundamentally disagree about what the Treaty is and what it means to us all.

Venue: Russley Golf Club and Function Centre, 428 Memorial Avenue

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DUNEDIN — Thursday 23 July, 6.30pm

The Future of New Zealand: AI, Technology and Identity

Guest: Tā Ian Taylor KNZM, founder of Animation Research Ltd

We will talk about artificial intelligence, innovation, regional growth, Māori identity, creativity, and whether our political institutions are remotely prepared for the speed of technological change. We will also discuss why New Zealand continues to treat the arts, language, and imagination as pleasant extras rather than essential national infrastructure and Sir Ian’s public criticisms of National and Labour governments.

Venue: Moot Court Theatre, University of Otago, 362 Leith Street

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WHANGĀREI — Monday 27 July, 6.30pm

Co-Governance, Race and Local Democracy

Guest: Far North District Councillor Davina Smolders

Davina Smolders has become known for asking awkward questions about local government processes, spending, representation, and democratic accountability. We will discuss what happens when elected councillors challenge institutional consensus, whether councils are still focused on their core responsibilities, and how race and Treaty obligations should, and should not, shape local democracy.

Venue: Cobham Oval, 79 Okara Drive

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HAMILTON — Tuesday 28 July, 6.30pm

Seventeen Years in the Press Gallery: Inside and Outside the Bubble

Guest: Duncan Garner

Thank you to ElliottBourke for sponsoring this event.

Duncan Garner has spent more than 30 years working across television, radio, newspapers, and digital media, including 17 years inside the Parliamentary Press Gallery. We will discuss media hypocrisy, political access, the strange incentives of the Wellington bubble, why legacy journalism is losing its audience, and whether the profession has become too cautious, too cosy, or too frightened of its own readers.

Venue: Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery, 1 Grantham Street

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AUCKLAND — Wednesday 29 July, 7pm

Public Service, Neutrality and the Limits of Free Speech

Guest: Rob Campbell CNZM

Can somebody serving in a senior public role express a political opinion? Where is the line between political impartiality and political neutering? And who should be trusted to draw it?

Rob Campbell was removed as chair of both Te Whatu Ora and the Environmental Protection Authority after expressing political opinions online. He did not apologise, and he has continued to argue that people holding public appointments should not be stripped of their right to speak politically.

Venue: Ellen Melville Centre, 2 Freyberg Place

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SOLD OUT! TAURANGA — Thursday 30 July

186 Years: How New Zealand’s Relationship with the Treaty Evolved Over Time

Guests: Dr Alistair Reese and Professor Paul Moon ONZM

Dr Alistair Reese and Professor Paul Moon will bring two very different perspectives to a discussion about the Treaty of Waitangi, reconciliation, Pākehā identity, Māori history, co-governance, and the evolution of the Treaty’s place in New Zealand law and public life.

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PALMERSTON NORTH — Tuesday 4 August, 6.30pm

Politics, Media and Life Beyond Wellington

Guest: Liam Hehir

Politics in the regions does not always look like politics in Wellington, although the people in Wellington are sometimes the last to notice.

Palmerston North lawyer and political commentator Liam Hehir will join me to talk about the election, political tribalism, the role of the media, and the growing gulf between how politics is discussed inside the capital and how it is experienced elsewhere.

Venue: Palmerston North City Library, 4 The Square

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WELLINGTON — Wednesday 5 August, 6.30pm

Life, Death, and the Right to Choose

Guests: ACT MP Todd Stephenson and former National MP Simon O’Connor

Todd Stephenson, and ACT, are campaigning to extend the End of Life Choice Act following the Ministry of Health’s review. Former National MP Simon O’Connor remains one of the country’s most persistent and principled opponents of assisted dying.

They hold deeply different convictions about autonomy, suffering, dignity, medicine, and the obligations a society owes to vulnerable people. We will put those views together in the same room and hopefully they will help us all understand the issue better.

Venue: Legislative Council Chamber, Parliament Buildings

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NELSON — Thursday 6 August, 6.30pm

Paddock to Parliament: Farming and the Policy Gap

Guest: Wayne Langford, former national president of Federated Farmers

Golden Bay dairy farmer Wayne Langford spent three years leading Federated Farmers through a period of immense change in New Zealand farming. We will talk about the gap between scientific modelling and life on the farm, whether policymakers understand the cumulative burden of regulation, why trust between rural communities and Wellington has deteriorated, and what genuine environmental progress looks like when farmers are treated as participants rather than enemies.

Venue: Pūtangitangi Greenmeadows Centre, 233 Songer Street, Stoke

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Free speech is not merely the right to deliver a monologue to people who already like and agree with you. It is part of a wider culture in which disagreement is normal, curiosity is encouraged, and people are permitted to finish a sentence before somebody starts launching into their denunciation.

Like everyone, I know I could do better in how I engage in political discourse. I certainly get grumpy at times. And this tour is really challenging me to get into the mindset of listening and considering before responding, rather than just debating to win.

I am very excited and also a bit terrified. I have not done this kind of thing before! I am much more used to sitting down to hammer out my arguments on my keyboard for people to read.

So please come along. Tickets are $10, every event includes audience questions. I would particularly love to see Thought Crimes readers in the room and put some faces to the names I see in the comments.

Come and say hello and come prepared for a proper yarn.

Ani