Category: Speeches, Papers & Briefings

Colin James’s paper at the Victoria University post-election conference, 2 December 2005

The 2005 election could be said to have begun on 19 June 2003 when the Appeal Court [Endnote1] decided the foreshore and seabed were “land” and, under common law, iwi and hapu could take a claim to the Maori Land Court for title. That enlivened the National party and shook the Labour party with far-reaching effects in due course on the 2005 election. UMR’s reading of whether the country is on the right or wrong track plunged from 40% net positive to 5% in six weeks, National leader Don Brash demanded “one law for all” in a speech in January 2004 [Endnote2] and Labour’s comfortable poll whiplashed temporarily in a large lead for National. At the same time, National’s competitors on the right, ACT and New Zealand First, lost half their poll ratings. read more

Colin James’s Australasian Study of Parliament Group, 30 November 2005

The touchstone is a majority in Parliament. The practice has been to obtain a committed majority. And the experience has been that what starts out as the governing support arrangement in a parliamentary term is not what ends up. Government re-formation is therefore a relevant side-issue.
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Colin James: Bruce Jesson Memorial Lecture, Maidment Theatre, Auckland University, 14 November 2005

This is an honour and an astonishment: an astonishment because this occasion is grandly titled a “lecture” and I am a journalist — journalists write stories; and an honour because I think Bruce Jesson was worthy of having a lecture named for him. read more

Colin James’s notes for the State of the Nation series at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell, 24 July 2005

No bridge or bus has been blown up. No political leader has been assassinated. No mass popular movement has stormed the parliamentary heights.

Not bad after a couple of revolutions. It augurs well for coping with the next big changes coming down the nation-building highway. read more

Colin James address to Ngai Tahu planning summit dinner, 13 May 2005

A journalist has no whakapapa. A journalist is outside all groups, has neither past nor future, has no connectedness. A journalist looks in on events and people and transmits the picture the journalist sees to others so that they may look in on events and people. read more

Colin James’s speech to the Sydney Institute, 3 February 2005

If you say the title of this talk quickly it will resonate with many Australians. Much of the commentary in Australia about New Zealand — apart from an obsession with trivia and curiosities — is about the military and seems to presume New Zealanders are freeloaders or pacifists or both. read more

Colin James’s comments to The Visible Hand symposium to mark Sir Frank Holmes’ policy contributions, Institute of Policy Studies, 19 November 2004

My brief is the future. Which is entirely appropriate in honour of a man who has always in my experience thought about the future. Sir Frank has one of the most inquiring and omnivorous minds I have met. Few 40-year-olds have his restlessness and his enthusiasm let alone his wisdom. In consequence, I have learnt a great deal from him. read more

Colin James’s speech to United Nations Association, United Nations Day, 22 October 2004

When Gerardine Lynch asked me to speak to you, I replied: “Your request is a puzzle to me, since I have never been to the United Nations, know very little about it and am not knowledgeable about international affairs beyond what I scrabble together from time to time to write around domestic politics. I can’t think what I could say to a knowledgeable audience.” read more

Colin James’s speech to the Tax Conference, Christchurch, 15 October 2004

Tax is a three-letter word. Tax is the ultimate expletive-deleted. Tax fuels much passion. So you folk have a special place in our hearts. Whichever side of tax gathering you are on, you command our estimation and our love. You are right up there with dentists. read more

Dinner speech at Treasury productivity symposium, 28 July 2004

You have heard all day from economists and now you get a journalist. My economics stopped at the Philips curve, or shortly thereafter, so you should rhyme journalist with generalist. My beat is politics, which is a generalist’s haven. I suppose I am supposed to be some sort of connection between the arcane and the banal. And be brief about it. read more