If you have ever had the misfortune of having to rescue someone who is thrashing around in a panic from drowning, you would know how easy it is for the panicked to take you under with them. The combined National, ACT & NZFirst coalition government is insistent on taking the rest Aotearoa with them.

Fast-track laws, parliamentary urgency, Treaty tension, media retreat: warning signs for NZ's 'brittle' democracy

Analysis - Power is not being abused, but it is not being well managed either. New Zealand democracy, unique and currently brittle, should be handled with greater care, Alexander Gillespie writes.