Republished with Permission
Author: Bryce Edwards
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, TRADE
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Christopher Luxon on trade with China and getting on President Xi Jinping’s Christmas card list
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Christopher Luxon to meet Xi Jinping in visit to China
Dan Brunskill (Interest): There is no plan
Helen Davidson (Guardian): New Zealand PM to meet Xi Jinping as former leaders warn against becoming an ‘adversary’ of China
Brent Edwards (NBR): Luxon to push tourism and international education in China (paywalled)
Don Brash: Antagonising China makes no sense
Josie Pagani (Post): We might want to stay out of trouble, but trouble will find us (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): NZ PM Christopher Luxon faces diplomatic test with China visit and Nato summit (paywalled)
Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): New Zealand’s response to Israeli strikes against Iran
Asia Pacific Report: Twyford condemns weak action by NZ over Israel’s ‘ruthless’ apartheid
Steven Cowan: New Zealand fails to condemn Israel’s unprovoked attack on Iran
Thomas Manch (Post): Luxon says Israeli strikes ‘potentially catastrophic’ for Middle East
Ruby Shaw (ODT): DCC to consider official support for Israel sanctions Bill (paywalled)
Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): Embassy of Israel in Wellington closes amid international conflict
Tom Wilkinson (Newsroom): NZ should hold fire on ‘Golden Dome’
HEALTH
Ian Powell (Newsroom): Follow the money – it’s enough to buy surgeons tropical cruises
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Huge rise in surgery outsourcing prompts alarm among doctors
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Simeon Brown challenges Treasury over plans to cut health spending (paywalled)
RNZ: Cabinet approves 'suite of amendments' to Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act
Anna Whyte (Sunday Star Times): The political problem of health: What’s wrong, and what will fix it? (paywalled)
Kim Knight (Herald): A Dim Prognosis: Auckland ICU doctor’s book calls for NZ health system overhaul (paywalled)
Nikki Macdonald (Post): Code Red: Hundreds of critical hospital overload incidents (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): Hospices are at a tipping point - why don’t politicians care? (paywalled)
Jude Ball, Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards (Public Health Communication Centre): Major vaping reforms: Will they deliver on public health aims?
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): New vape rules need ‘rigorous enforcement’, experts say (paywalled)
RNZ: Police pull-back from mental crisis callouts continues
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): ‘Smells like discrimination’: Woman fights insurer’s decision to define her peri/menopause as a pre-existing condition
Virginia Fallon (Sunday Star Times): ‘It was real to me’: The AI therapist will see you now (paywalled)
Pretoria Gordon (RNZ): Navigating New Zealand's ableist health system with a disability
Nik Dirga (RNZ): Covid-19 isolation and testing rules in 2025: What you need to know
Rachel Helyerdonaldson (Stuff): Landmark 'Dunedin Study' founder Dr Phil Silva dies, aged 84
PARLIAMENT, EX-PMS, PUBLIC SECTOR
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Abuse in care: Cabinet considered limiting gang members' redress
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): My enemy’s enemy: on minor parties’ outsized influence (paywalled)
RNZ: Government considers Crown contributions to partnership projects
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Luxon heads to China and Europe while the government finishes quarterly plan
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): Why I’m obsessed with Gerry Brownlee’s face (paywalled)
Duncan Garner (Listener): Labour needs to cut ties with Te Pāti Māori, not get closer (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): Is safety versus risk going to be the political dividing line? (paywalled)
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An Ode to .. David Seymour
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): What if Jacinda Ardern were just an ordinary Prime Minister? (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): Too much is left unsaid in Jacinda Ardern’s memoir (paywalled)
Jada Yuan (Washington Post): Inside the new documentary that captures Jacinda Ardern’s life as PM
Katie Herchenroeder (Vanity Fair): Jacinda Ardern Is No Longer Campaigning for Office—Now It’s for Humanity
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): My Net Worth: Chris Bishop, Cabinet minister (paywalled)
Louis Colins (RNZ): The House: Morning Tea with Matt Doocey
Stephanie Holmes (Herald): Auckland Business Chamber CEO Simon Bridges, former National leader, roasted on Herald NOW for his facial hair
Anna Whyte (Post): The cost of losing a job: A look into the Government’s redundancy bill (paywalled)
Kate Green (RNZ): Geohazard monitoring staff consider voluntary redundancies under cost-cutting drive
Phil Pennington and Ruth Hill (RNZ): More cuts proposed at Ministry for Culture and Heritage
NBR RICH LIST, INEQUALITY
Max Rashbrooke (Post): Biggest obstacle to tax reform? A lack of ordinary Kiwi anger (paywalled)
Damien Grant (Stuff): The negative effects of taxing wealth
Good Ideas: The Rich List: an economic analysis (paywalled)
Hamish McNicol and Calida Stuart-Menteath (NBR): We need to talk about wealth in New Zealand (paywalled)
Dave Kennedy: NZ rich suck up more of our wealth
David Farrar: Silly Socialism
Colleen Brown (Listener): What the coalition’s policies and Budget 2025 signal for the working poor (paywalled)
Colleen Brown (Listener): Go make a marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag! What living in poverty is really like (paywalled)
RNZ: More claim social development benefits during May
REGULATORY STANDARDS BILL
Ella Stewart (RNZ): Why opponents and supporters of the Regulatory Standards Bill are so far apart
Anne Salmond (Newsroom): What’s wrong with the Regulatory Standards Bill
RNZ: Regulatory Standards Bill will stop lawmakers considering broader public health, warns cancer specialist
Melanie Baker-Jones: Climate, Risk, and the Regulatory Standards Bill
MINING, ENVIRONMENT
Adam Pearse (Herald): Greenpeace warns Govt oil/gas ban reversal will open up mining across NZ
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Two fast-tracked mines delay applications
Craig Ashworth (Local Democracy Reporting): Tribunal asked to halt seabed mine fast-track
Kate Green (RNZ): DOC spends hundreds of thousands to care for snails after mining destroys home
RNZ: Glyphosate health issues to be debated in High Court
Susan Harris (Interest): There is no plan
Michael Morrah (Herald): Manawatū iwi outraged over secret radioactive waste facility (paywalled)
HOUSING
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Chris Bishop has brought back blanket medium-density rules for most large cities, while offering Christchurch and Auckland bespoke intensification plans
Charlie Mitchell (Press/Post): Some of NZ’s best farmland could be opened up for housing (paywalled)
Shanti Mathias (Post): What Chris Bishop’s decision on Plan Change 14 means for Christchurch
Jessica Hopkins (RNZ): Youth-led Hīkoi highlights Auckland homelessness crisis says advocate
Amy Ridout (Stuff): More people sleeping rough on Wellington’s city streets
Kelly Makiha (Rotorua Daily Post): Rotorua homelessness issue: Lifewise CEO calls for crisis centre
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Women allegedly denied emergency housing while trying to flee domestic violence
1News: Nearly 200 new homes for Rotorua in affordable housing push
RNZ: Government targets affordable housing in Rotorua
Pokere Paewai (RNZ): From kōrero to kāinga: Ngāti Rangi celebrates housing milestone
Jonathan Killick (Sunday Star Times): Rates reflections: Key takeaways from Auckland’s revaluation (paywalled)
Deborah Morris (Post): Cricket great goes into bat against local council (paywalled)
Frances Chin (Post): Karori property development to start construction in August (paywalled)
RESERVE BANK
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Don’t you know who Neil Quigley is?
Kelly Dennett and Luke Malpass (Post): Adrian Orr: An anatomy of a resignation (paywalled)
Michael Reddell: Quigley, Orr, and the RB board: edition number 965
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Reserve Bank of NZ upbeat about interest in governor role (paywalled)
ECONOMY, BUDGET
Brian Easton (Pundit)): Why Wellbeing?
Craig Renney: GDP Preview – Look out the window
Bryan Bruce: EP 52 Head2Head - Dr Ganesh Nana- What is Productivity? Why does it matter and what is an economy for anyway?
David Hargreaves (Interest): A reviving economy is pointing to increased chances of a 'pause' in OCR cuts
Liam Dann (Herald): Stronger-than-expected GDP growth raises risk Reserve Bank will pause cash rate cuts (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Economy tipped to grow 0.7%, bolstering case for RBNZ rate pause (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Recovery taking longer than expected, Kiwibank economists say
Dita De Boni (Post): The balance of risks skewed to downside for NZ economy: Kiwibank (paywalled)
RNZ: Manufacturing reversal shows economy could 'come to a grinding halt' - economist
Rod McNaughton (Newsroom): NZ’s economy is not underperforming by accident
Liam Dann (Herald): We need to fix the human-shaped hole in our economy (paywalled)
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, RURAL NZ
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Can Labour win back some of the rural vote?
Rob Stock (Sunday Star Times): Fed Farmers’ lobbying the star of this week’s Fieldays (paywalled)
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): Primary sector can help regulators avoid ‘dumb rules’: Bill English (paywalled)
Alka Prasad (Post): Sustainable tree planting is still important on farms: Beef+Lamb (paywalled)
Riley Kennedy (BusinessDesk): Cashed-up farmers balance spending and debt repayment as confidence returns
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Thomas Manch (Post): Ratepayer Nation: The councils going it alone on water reform (paywalled)
RNZ: Progress made to fix Shotover wastewater treatment plant issues, Queenstown Lakes District Council says
Katie Ham (Post): Boil water notice after ‘nightmare’ outage leaves street dry for days (paywalled)
Amy Williams (RNZ): Wastewater discharge halts Mahurangi oyster harvesting
Luke Malpass (Post): Can local government be future-proofed? (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Post): Ratepayer Nation: Why the 2025 local body elections may be a critical turning point (paywalled)
Nick Leggett (Post): The future of local government; time to rethink - not retreat (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Auckland’s new housing density plans, Wayne Brown’s big scheme and more speed limit silliness (paywalled)
Zita Campbell (Local Democracy Reporting): Majority back larger alcohol ban area in Gisborne
Diane McCarthy (Local Democracy Reporting): Whakatāne operators at war with council over tourism funding cuts
Laura Smith (Local Democracy Reporting): Claim councillor told another to 'f*** off' after 'true history’ clash
RNZ: Feedback on the future of Western Springs Stadium due
Bryan Cadogan (Sunday Star Times): Candidates Corner: In politics, you must stay true to yourself (paywalled)
Paula Southgate (Sunday Star Times): Candidates Corner: We face a crossroads, with fast and hard change (paywalled)
Dinnie Moeahu (Sunday Star Times): Candidates Corner: ‘You have come too far not to go further’ (paywalled)
Ruby Shaw (ODT): Mayoral candidate ‘ready to step up’ (paywalled)
Laine Priestley (ODT): ‘Remarkable life of achievement’ marked
Cartoons
