Table of Contents
Republished with Permission
Author: Bryce Edwards
NZ FIRST
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): The State of Winston Peters
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): NZ First: Winston Peters has a lot of thoughts about Labour (paywalled)
Giles Dexter (RNZ): No love lost as Peters and Hipkins trade barbs
Richard Harman (Politik): Winston Peters – political contortionist (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Sunday Star Times): NZ First faithful gather as Winston Peters eyes the campaign trail (paywalled)
Thomas Manch and Maxine Jacobs (Post): Winston Peters rallies supporters for 'war on woke’ (paywalled)
Thomas Manch and Maxine Jacobs (Post): Winston Peters urges security to remove hecklers amid raucous speech (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Watch: ‘Disgrace to the country’ vs ‘left-wing fascists’ Winston Peters and protestors scrap at speech
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Winston Peters proclaims ‘war on woke’ as he looks to 2026 election
1News: NZ First leader Winston Peters declares 'war on woke'
RNZ: Watch: Winston Peters' State of the Nation speech
Ella Somers (Interest): Winston Peters rejects Chapman Tripp’s criticism of NZ First’s ‘woke bank’ bill
Brent Edwards (NBR): Winston Peters attacks Labour in state of the nation speech (paywalled)
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Winston Peters vs the world
GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Poor performance survey leaves National little room for error
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): A good problem to have? (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Ipsos survey: Voters give coalition government lowest rating since records began
Press/Post: Coalition Government hit for six in performance survey (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): David Seymour and the food fight he can’t win
Kelly Dennett (Post): Brooke van Velden: public servant, not power hungry (paywalled)
Ian Taylor (Stuff): David Seymour’s ‘divine’ misstep
Brian Tweed (E-Tangata): Understanding political ventriloquism
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An Ode to .. Lord Breen of Seymour
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): The Trump lads are abundant in New Zealand
RNZ: RNZ to run new series of political polls
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Christopher Luxon and coalition Govt come out on top this week but tougher times loom (paywalled)
Anne Salmond (Newsroom): The Emperor’s clothes
Neil Ballantyne (RSW): On political economy and billionaire bolt-holes in Aotearoa
Eric Crampton (Post): What an overloaded bagel tells us about government efficiency (paywalled)
Greg Dixon (Listener): Indiana Luxon and the World’s Fastest Indian (Trade Deal) (paywalled)
Alisha Evans (Local Democracy Reporting): 'Step backwards': Uffindell's equal voting rights bill challenged
Ryan Ward: Uffindell tries his hand at equal rights
Audrey Young (Herald): Willie Jackson’s big new job in Labour and his policy mission for the next 18 months (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Diplomacy in India and the US, local government, and the recovery
Mike Houlahan (ODT): In the unlikely event of emergency call Chippie (paywalled)
Ella Grayson and Jonathan McCabe (Critic): Chippy Talks Politics Over a Guiness
Jesse Mulligan: How parties of the left can win next time
David Farrar: A useful legislative tool for wonks
Paddy Gower (Stuff): MPs must donate fat pay rises to fight child poverty, says Sir Ian Taylor
Jordan Irvine (Critic): Chlöe Swarbrick is still a politician
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait (E-Tangata): Graciously tenacious
PUBLIC SERVICE, OIA
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier criticises Health NZ Te Whatu Ora OIA policy
ODT Editorial: Culture change call on OIA (paywalled)
No Right Turn: Law, culture, and the OIA
Azaria Howell (Newstalk ZB): Public servants asked if their work provides value for taxpayers in Public Service Census
Anna Whyte and Ffion Heale (Post): David Seymour has found ‘substantial savings’ in the public service. Now it’s over to Willis (paywalled)
Ryan Bridge (Herald): Government budget cuts: Nicola Willis is prepping for a bonfire of the vanity projects (paywalled)
Katie Ham (Post): Andrew Coster: From top cop to the face of social investment (paywalled)
Katharine Moody (Interest): In defence of diversity, equity and inclusion
Arena Williams, Stuart Smith (Stuff): I have been served well by many hardworking staff in the public service
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE, DEFENCE
Thomas Manch (Post): Dealing with the dark heart of ‘the American berserk’ (paywalled)
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): Our new trade friend (paywalled)
Amanda Gillies (RNZ): The Detail: In Delhi and D.C., Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters in their elements
1News: Q+A: Luxon 'really proud' of NZ delegation trip to India
Mildred Armah (Stuff): Luxon reiterates NZ’s right to free speech after Indian PM’s allegations
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): India trade deal promising, despite Christopher Luxon’s dumb note (paywalled)
Adam Pearse (Herald): PM in India: US trade, defence and new ferries loom large over India FTA progress (paywalled)
Dan Brunskill (Interest): India mission a success... but don’t drop the ball
Luke Malpass (Post): Keeping momentum, getting the deal done (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The Secret Diary of .. Luxon of India
Herald Editorial: Luxon’s trade trip to India a success but ultimately judged by pen to paper (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The old world order is dying – long live the new?
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Cricket quips and Kiwi ships: Behind the scenes of Christopher Luxon’s India trip
Laura Walters (Newsroom): A peek behind the scenes of the PM’s trip to India
Luke Malpass (Post): Notes from India: The cricket and the Navy (paywalled)
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Phil Pennington (RNZ): Military robots and thinking trucks - the learning curve ahead for NZDF
Press Editorial (Post): From a time of optimism to anxiety (paywalled)
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Don Brash: Time for ANZAC 2.0?
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Govt refusing visa-free transit for Chinese is ‘CIA bullshit’, says Akld mayor
Thomas Manch (Post): Immigration Minister’s 'CIA letter' to Auckland mayor Wayne Brown (paywalled)
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Council leaders seek $25m to bring panda pair to Auckland Zoo
Donna Miles (Press): The moral obligation for NZ to act over the Gaza war (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Boycotting Afghanistan cricket plays into Taliban’s world view (paywalled)
Neil Reid (Herald): Over and out: Why international human rights group wants the Black Caps to boycott Afghanistan
JUSTICE, CORRECTIONS
1News: Q+A: Outgoing Ombudsman criticises 'dinosaurian' prisoner treatment
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Prison hunger strike: Dean Wickliffe tells supporters he’s prepared to die
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Jared McCulloch (1News): Queenstown considers discharging treated wastewater into river
David Williams (Newsroom): Emergency powers mulled to divert resort’s wastewater into river
Crux: Ngāi Tahu: QLDC emergency sewage plan "underhand"
Julie Jacobson (Post): Council pays for hīkoi portaloos despite not providing other protests with toilets (paywalled)
Julie Jacobson (Post): ‘Criminal’ to get rid of community-funded centre, says man who helped build it (paywalled)
Julie Jacobson (Post): Cute, cuddly and caught in the crossfires (paywalled)
Toby Adams (Post): Councils need to stick together (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Local Government New Zealand crying foul over potential rates capping
Julie Jacobson (Post): Foot to the floor in council cars, but no way of knowing whose (paywalled)
Luka Forman (RNZ): 'Absolutely gobsmacked' - Property developers slam decision to temporarily stop new builds' wastewater connection in Auckland suburb
Virginia Fallon (Sunday Star Times): ‘Mad decision’: Auckland mayor slams rejection of $100m building (paywalled)
RNZ: 'This isn't over' - Albany Ward councillor expects challenges to Western Springs Speedway closure
Tina Law (Press): Community leader Ali Jones calls for audit over empty mobility car parks (paywalled)
Tina Law (Press): ‘Meth or math?’: Councillor defends ‘joke’ comment (paywalled)
Craig Ashworth (Local Democracy Reporting): Apology crawls towards reality after council Treaty bill strife
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Time for Masterton to have its say on water
Laura Smith (Local Democracy Reporting): Elections 2025: Which of Rotorua’s mayor and councillors will stand again
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): Windbag: Why is it so hard to pedestrianise upper Cuba Street?
Catrin Owen (Post): High Court rules Wellington's Cuba St rainbow crossing can stay (paywalled)
RNZ: Buller councillors to decide on future of Westport relocation plan
ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING, INEQUALITY
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): United Nations report questions fairness of GST
Max Rashbrooke (Post): The economic recovery should start at home (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): What recovery? The gap between the data and how we feel about the economy is growing (paywalled)
Duncan Garner (Listener): The only question that will matter at the 2026 election (paywalled)
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Explained: You think you've got it bad? Why our sluggish economy hits Māori harder
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Nicola Willis issues pre-Budget warning, as high bond yields could add hundreds of millions to Govt’s borrowing costs (paywalled)
RNZ: Finance Minister Nicola Willis warns job market won’t pick up just yet
Herald Editorial: After our economy bounced along the bottom, now we have a reason for hope (paywalled)
Robert MacCulloch: Who will be Reserve Bank Governor? Lets trust Finance Minister Willis will not continue the Disgracefully Invalid Past Appointments Process
HEALTH
Rod Carr (Sunday Star Times): We need to get real about what our healthcare system can deliver (paywalled)
Jessie Curran (RNZ): Resourcing concerns raised as new bill proposes three-day hospital stay for mothers, newborns
Paula Penfold (Stuff): ‘They’re just jokes’: ACC accused of tolerating racism, sexism — and ‘airkicking’
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Bowel cancer screening: Another callous, cruel Government decision that hurts Māori, Pasifika (paywalled)
Alexa Cook (RNZ): Protest against overnight healthcare cuts: 'It's just wrong'
Caron Copek (Stuff): ‘We need to keep fighting’: Napier mayor tells people worried about healthcare
Ruth Hill (RNZ): 'We need these young doctors' - top medical graduate struggles to find job
David Farrar: Taxpayer funded Heath NZ staff complaining they are asked to stop being lobbyists
Diane McCarthy (Local Democracy Reporting): Whakatāne council to explore health advisory group proposal
RNZ: New Zealand facing crisis in paediatric palliative care as sole specialist on leave
Sam Egger, Becky Freeman, Judith McCool and Lucy Hardie (The Conversation): The tobacco lobby claims vaping is displacing youth smoking – a close look at the evidence tells another story
Mary Williams (ODT): Risk fed-up hospital staff could take off
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Wellington is getting a charity hospital - here’s how it will work
Justin Wong (Post): Kāpiti residents keen on ‘anything’ that makes getting urgent medical help easier (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): The road ahead for Wellington’s charity hospital (paywalled)
Mary Argue (RNZ): Hundreds march in Wellington to support access for puberty blockers, gender affirming care
Virginia Fallon (Post): ‘Brace for impact’: Lab worker strike set to disrupt most of NZ (paywalled)
EDUCATION, SCHOOL LUNCHES
RNZ: Education Minister Erica Stanford learnt about lunch provider's liquidation through media
Pokere Paewai (RNZ): Co-principal slams govt lunch programme after Rotorua students served single bread roll
Paul Harvey (Post): School lunch programmes - progress and challenges (paywalled)
Sarah Aiono (Aotearoa Educators Collective): Behind Closed Doors
Brittany Keogh and Hanna McCallum (Post): Zone Out: How high (and climbing) house prices are affecting school enrolments (paywalled)
Brittany Keogh (Post): Zone Out: ‘It's heartbreaking to have to turn people away’, principal says (paywalled)
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Will the $2.7b cost of tertiary courses be enough?
RNZ: Trump's government cuts funding for NZ scientists' trip to US
Damien Grant (Stuff): A Post-modern dilemma: Debating Mātauranga Māori and science
MEDIA
RNZ: NZ Herald owner NZME reveals talks to buy Stuff newspapers
Tom Pullar-Strecker and Business staff (Stuff): NZME was in fresh talks with Stuff, but it’s third time unlucky
1News: Talley’s loses court bid to force TVNZ to reveal sources
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: NZME board contender Jim Grenon’s questions for journalists’ union E tū, amid debate over editorial independence (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: Jim Grenon’s full letter to NZME released publicly; outlines concerns and criticisms of company (paywalled)
Nicholas Pointon (NBR): Jim Grenon expects to be a ‘very active’ chair of NZME (paywalled)
Rebecca Stevenson (BusinessDesk): NZME board coup: Jim Grenon accuses media company of misleading investors (paywalled)
Kevin Norquay (Post): Ink and outrage: why cartoonists push the anger button (paywalled)
Hayden Donnell (RNZ): Mediawatch: Is there life in lifestyle journalism?
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: For the love of Lumo – outdoor advertising pair buy out company with now 71 digital billboards and 26 staff (paywalled)
PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES
Maia Ingoe (RNZ): Greenpeace says Fonterra's palm kernel supply chain tainted by connections to deforestation (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Sunday Star Times): Fonterra wants stronger protections built into Gene Technology Bill (paywalled)
RNZ: Labels on colony eggs misleading customers, animal welfare expert says
Jared McCulloch (1News): Southland Federated Farmers call for Fish & Game boycott
David Williams (Newsroom): Too costly to hear illegal gold-mining case on West Coast, says judge
Dita De Boni (Post): Contentious proposed central Otago goldmine starts down consents path (paywalled)
Michelle Sands (Post): Freshwater rules risk restricting vegetable production, and causing vege prices to spike (paywalled)
David Hargreaves (Interest): Fonterra finds a firm footing - and we all stand to benefit
Alka Prasad (Sunday Star Times): ‘Rural backbone’ may be key to economic recovery, but hurdles remain (paywalled)
ENVIRONMENT, CONSERVATION, WEATHER
Phil Smith (RNZ): The House: Climate change adaptation - Parliament asks the small questions
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): NZ climate forecasts rely on system Trump is dismantling
Jamie Morton (Herald): New analysis charts historical loss of New Zealand’s glaciers
Mike White (Sunday Star Times): Schoolchildren’s petition gets Parliament support over 'ticking time bomb’ shipwreck (paywalled)
Indigenous Endurance: Maori Emergency Management Network: Hono
TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE
Sinead Gill (Press): ‘Missing’ $78m for public transport in Christchurch reallocated to roads (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Transport struggles to collect millions in unpaid fines
Chris Keall (Herald): BYD’s Shark chomps big chunk of ute market: Bishop, Seymour eye law change that will give it even more bite (paywalled)
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Rail still seen as ‘crucial’ to Canterbury’s future
Stuff: StraitNZ upgrades Cook Strait ferry fleet with new ship
Roeland van den Bergh (Sunday Star Times): Anger in the regions as flying for business gets unaffordable (paywalled)
Chris Tobin (Stuff): Future of Chathams’ supply ship uncertain, Timaru manager says
Chris Keall (Herald): Rod Drury backs ‘NZ first’ public e-boat charging company Electric Wave (paywalled)
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT, CONSUMER AFFAIRS
Dita De Boni (Post): Competition watchdog finds Aussie supermarkets uncompetitive - even though they’re more competitive than NZ’s (paywalled)
Victoria Young (BusinessDesk): Editor’s note: We investigate the business of food (paywalled)
Denise McNabb (BusinessDesk): Multinationals reap billions from strong processed food demand in New Zealand (paywalled)
1News: How do NZ's butter prices stack up internationally?
RNZ: 'Shocking': Two years of bills despite changing internet provider
Victoria Yong (BusinessDesk): On the Money: A sports star joins Craigs, Spark, Fonterra, the Vero centre and more (paywalled)
