Republished with Permission
Author: Bryce Edwards
PAY EQUITY, THE C-WORD
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): I said what I said. And I’m sorry... sort of (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): When all hell breaks loose, and politics becomes theatre (paywalled)
Jesse Mulligan: Thinking about the c-word
Vernon Small (Post): Note to Labour - Sometimes, less is more (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Shocking language distraction (paywalled)
Ian Taylor (Stuff): : How one bad word derailed the pay equity debate
Stuff: Columnist dismisses ‘faux outrage’ after pay equity column
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The Secret Diary of .. Brooke GPT
Verity Johnson (Stuff): Is it misogynistic to drop C-bombs? Nope. It’s not very middle class though
Hayden Donnell (RNZ): Mediawatch: Bad statistics and stereotypes boost bootcamp bid
Damien Grant (Stuff): Brooke Van Velden is one of a handful of ministers directly combatting NZ’s decline
Dellwyn Stuart (Herald): Pay equity ‘underhand move’ erodes democracy in NZ (paywalled)
John Farrow (ODT): Pay equity changes under intense scrutiny
Stuart Smith and Arena Williams (Stuff): Why did we need a change to equal pay laws?
Cate Macintosh (Press/Post): 'What does NZ hold for my future?' Teacher mulling move to Australia after pay equity law change (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): Departure of two key figures illuminate what went wrong under Ardern (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): 54th Parliament’s worst week (paywalled)
Kevin Norquay (Sunday Star Times): ‘Under Urgency’: Parliamentary code for no time for you, me or democracy (paywalled)
Rebekah Graham: Civility as a weapon: The performance of power
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Front Page: C-bombs, consequences and ‘chaos’: Unpacking an ‘unprecedented’ week of politics
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An Ode to .. Judge Judy
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Sunday Star Times): Being David Parker: Bold ideas that find an audience years later (paywalled)
David Farrar: Parker’s valedictory
Brent Edwards (NBR): The Greens’ budget, the Budget, obscenities, and haka punishment (paywalled)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Tikanga or not tikanga, that's the regulatory review question (paywalled)
Alice Neville (Spinoff): How wokeism cancelled political correctness
TE PĀTI MĀORI SUSPENSION
Graeme Edgeler: Suspending MPs - Contempt of Parliament in the spot light
Richard Harman (Politik): Maori Party suspensions unlikely to be resolved this week (paywalled)
Phil Smith (RNZ): The House: Parliamentary privileges - Race as an aggravating factor?
Greg Presland (The Standard): Te Pati Maori and the Privileges Committee
Louisa Wall (Post): Suspending Te Pāti Māori MPs threatens democracy (paywalled)
Chris Lynch: Te Pāti Māori suspensions: accountability or overreach?
Dave Kennedy: Privileges Committee delivers racist decision
GOVERNMENT
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s office keeping secret information on trade speech that irritated Winston Peters (paywalled)
Julia Gabel (Herald): Government should immediately halt Regulatory Standards Bill, Waitangi Tribunal says (paywalled)
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Waitangi Tribunal recommends 'immediate halt' Regulatory Standards Bill for 'meaningful consultation' with Māori
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Explained: Why the Govt is getting money from the Super Fund in 2028 (paywalled)
Ryan Ward: Seymour feels his chance slipping away
Matt McKillop (LawNews): Is NZ First’s gender definition bill a solution looking for a problem?
HOUSING, PROPERTY INDUSTRY
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The property developers who win from Govt’s big housing underwrites
Ben Leahy (Herald): How property traders are dodging GST to buy new-build homes cheap (paywalled)
Nicholas Pointon (NBR): The lobby group muddying the water on retirement reform (paywalled)
Catherine Masters (Herald): Budget 2025: David Seymour, Nicola Willis respond to claims foreign buyer ban will be lifted
Simon Wilson (Herald): John Key and Helen Clark: The great conundrum of Auckland housing (paywalled)
Avina Vidyadharan (Waikato Times/Post): Hamilton NZ’s emergency housing epicentre (paywalled)
Nadine Roberts (Stuff): Why a near-new social housing property is boarded up, and in need of repair
Jessica Hopkins (RNZ): 'The Pink Hoodz' lending a helping hand to those sleeping rough on Auckland's Karangahape Road
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Is it actually a good time to buy a house?
Greg Ninness (Interest): Buyers have upper hand in housing market, so vendors may have to take what they ca
HEALTH
Bryce Edwards (The Integrity Institute): Verrall's Tobacco Bill a chink of light in the lobbying gloom
Ian Powell (Newsroom): Health chief ‘conductor of an orchestra who’s never played an instrument’
Ian Powell: Predictable smear of salaried senior doctors
Peter de Graaf (RNZ): Public worried about creeping health privatisation, lack of preventative care
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Government mulls limiting ACC cover as rape victim’s court win exposes insurer to costly claims (paywalled)
Max Rashbrooke (Post): The ‘basic dignity’ of hospice care threatened by health crisis (paywalled)
Samantha Murton and Luke Bradford (Herald): We don’t need to create a different health service, we need to invest in the current one (paywalled)
Rawan Saadi (ODT): Call for better psych services amid mental health ‘crisis’ (paywalled)
RNZ: Government to run full national interest test on World Health Pandemic Treaty
RNZ: Measles case: 78 in quarantine as hundreds of close contacts identified
Isaac Davison (Herald): Surgeons protest ‘harsh’ process to perform mesh operations, accuse panel of intimidation (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (Post): New medicine approvals plan an exercise in not solving the problem (paywalled)
Paora Moyle (Post): Reclaiming power and healing through Indigenous-led research
ENVIRONMENT, FAST-TRACK
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Govt denies lift in controversial herbicide limit is preparing ground for GMO bill
Monique Steele (RNZ): NZ Food Safety proposes increasing residue limits of insecticides, pesticides in food
Eloise Gibson (RNZ): Carbon capture: Pivotal project for cutting greenhouse gas emissions looks shaky
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Net Zero is toast and we should recognise that
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Ruataniwha dam developer faces fast-track stigma
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Trans-Tasman Resources' Taranaki seabed mining project clears first phase of Fast-track process
BUDGET
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): How does government spending actually work?
Derek Cheng (Herald): Budget 2025: The Government needs to find billions of dollars for the numbers to add up. What we know so far (paywalled)
Greg McConnell (Stuff): Budget 2025: What the Government's already spent
Luke Malpass (Post): A beginners’ guide to the Budget
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Budget 2025: Labour signals it would respect current fiscal rules
Brent Edwards (NBR): Budget must balance spending restraint with Govt’s growth agenda (paywalled)
Michael Ryan (The Conversation): NZ Budget 2025: economic forecasting is notoriously difficult, but global uncertainty is making it harder
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Budget 2025: Stage managing a zero budget
Jamie Gray (Herald): Budget 2025: Government debt expected to hit high watermark (paywalled)
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): KiwiSaver shake-up looms as government prepares budget reveal
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): ‘Modest’ business tax measure to boost growth: Willis (paywalled)
Josie Pagani (Post): Embracing the opportunities of abundance politics (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Post): The pomp, the drama and the significance of Budget Day (paywalled)
Nick Stewart (Hawkes Bay Today/Herald): Budget 2025: The case for full expensing of capital expenditure (paywalled)
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Bridie Witton (Stuff): Willis says she ‘persuaded’ ACT to back $500m film subsidy boost, Seymour disagrees
RNZ: Budget 2025: Nicola Willis announces half-billion-dollar boost for film industry
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Nicola Willis’ film industry backing shows Budget’s economic growth focus (paywalled)
Tracey Roxburgh (ODT): Film body praises rebate funding
RNZ: Budget 2025: Government commits $164m over four years towards after-hours health care
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): New funding for after-hours care 'not going to go very far' - GP and urgent care doctor
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Budget 2025: Labour labels $164m over four years for urgent care ‘pocket change’
RNZ: Budget 2025: Māori Wardens receive $1.5m funding boost
GREENS
Justin Hu (1News): Q+A: 'Not a gotcha': Swarbrick pushed on details over Green Budget
Thomas Coughlan ((Herald): An average registered nurse’s after-tax pay will fall under the Green Party’s tax plan (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: A delusional alternative Budget from Greens is what we’ve come to expect (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: It’s not easy being Green (paywalled)
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Are the Greens bonkers?
Ani O’Brien: The Greens' vision a pathway to Venezuela
PUBLIC SECTOR, SOCIAL SERVICES
Audrey Young (Herald): Disruptive change: Andy Coster’s new role in reshaping social sector funding (paywalled)
RNZ: Big changes possible for social service funding
Bridie Witton (Stuff): MFAT’s top officials involved in ‘tikanga lead’ furore
Louis Collins (RNZ): The House: Wake-up call to MPs over building relationships after Treaty settlements
Anna Whyte (Post): Who’s Your Boss: MPI’s Ray Smith (paywalled)
ORANGA TAMARIKI, CHILD WELFARE
RNZ: Counsellors urge government to take heed of Oranga Tamariki report
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Children as young as 6 adopted, made to work as house slaves
Good Ideas: How New Zealand became almost the worst developed country for children
Liam Rātana (Spinoff): The many complex truths within the #PedosOnThePae movement
SOCIAL MEDIA BAN
David Harvey: Social Media Regulatory Targets
Duncan Garner (Listener): The only ‘c-word’ I want to concentrate on (paywalled)
Grace Tinetali-Fiavaai (RNZ): Pasifika leaders, influencers weigh in on proposed social media ban for under 16s
Tom Peters (World Socialists): New Zealand government seeks to ban social media for under-16s
DEFENCE, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE
Phil Pennington (RNZ): US plans to expand rocket launch options 'nothing to do with' NZ Defence Force
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): How the grand old dame of the US Navy navigated NZ’s nuke-free policy
RNZ: Boaties told to stay away from US warship in Wellington harbour
1News: US Navy command ship arrives in Wellington
Deborah Morris (Post): USS Blue Ridge checks Wellington off its bucket list (paywalled)
Rod Carr (Sunday Star Times): Tariffs: let’s be rational (paywalled)
Suzannah Jessep (Newsroom): When might’s not right: The case for keeping multilateralism on life support
WELLINGTON
Local Aotearoa: Andrew Little wrong about WCC's ability to govern up until the election
Andrea Vance (Post): Andrew Little to pledge end to council secrecy (paywalled)
RNZ: Unethical for Wellington council to sign more Golden Mile contracts, Andrew Little says
Nick James (RNZ): Ex-Labour MP Andrew Little launches Wellington mayoral campaign
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Wellington mayoral race underway with more than a Little fanfare
Amy Ridout (Stuff): Little pledges to ‘save’ Wellington’s public facilities ‘under constant threat’
Azaria Howell (Herald): Labour-endorsed Andrew Little formally launches campaign for Wellington mayoralty
Virginia Fallon (Post): Big promises at Andrew Little’s mayoral bid launch (paywalled)
Shilpy Arora Gaikwad (Stuff): ‘Ridiculous’: Six years of roadworks and ‘dangerous’ Wellington road still not fixed
André Chumko (Post): Persistent, ‘dangerous’ leaks in Wellington’s St James Theatre (paywalled)
Mary Argue (Stuff): Abuse toward Wellington City Council staff up 323 percent
Denis Welch (Post): Wellington street’s link to a bleak chapter in history (paywalled)
Harriet Laughton (Post): Khandallah pool demo recommended despite cheaper fix p w
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Wayne Brown (Sunday Star Times): What’s good for Auckland, is good for New Zealand (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): Why Scotland provides a glimmer of hope for Wayne Brown’s ‘bed tax’ (paywalled)
Herald: All Blacks great Sir Bryan Williams calls on public to back community-driven Western Springs stadium
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Roaming dogs terrorising South Auckland streets (paywalled)
Annemarie Quill (Stuff): ‘Addiction to spending’: $40k car park murals latest council cost questioned by ratepayers
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): The win-win solution for cash-strapped councils
Neil Holdom (Sunday Star Times): Candidates Corner: Rates are the tax we love to hate
Leah Hawkins (Sunday Star Times): Candidates Corner: Above-inflation rates hikes are not sustainable
ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING
David Hargreaves (Interest): How much lower do mortgage rates need to go?
Liam Dann (Herald): What surging food prices mean for the economy (and flat whites) (paywalled)
Steven Joyce (Herald): Govt should scrutinise Fonterra’s role in rising food prices
RNZ: Woolworths says NZ groceries cheaper than UK, Australia if you take off GST
Ryan Bridge (Herald): Kiwi economic refugees are fleeing NZ in droves (paywalled)
Sabrina Delago (Post): NZ’s weaker demand pulse, caused by people fleeing for more ‘fruitful lands’ (paywalled)