Table of Contents
Republished with Permission
Author: Bryce Edwards
BUDGET, ECONOMY, RESERVE BANK
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Labour’s credibility demands big new tax promises (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Post): Is all this belt-tightening really the best option right now? (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Are Kiwis about to be hit with an ‘austerity Budget’? (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): Why there has to be a Budget reckoning (paywalled)
Duncan Garner (Listener): Is Nicola Willis risking pushing NZ back into recession? (paywalled)
David Hargreaves (Interest): Unemployment may hit an eight-year high
Liam Dann (Herald): Unemployment set to rise to highest level in nearly a decade (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Unemployment expected to edge up to 5.2% or 5.3% (paywalled)
Brianna McIlraith (Stuff): What went wrong for FamilyBoost?
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Adrian Orr surfaces for farewell party with Reserve Bank staff, as questions remain over his resignation (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Finance Minister Nicola Willis needs to address NZ Superannuation age now (paywalled)
DEFENCE SPENDING, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Navy helicopter upgrade needed after Seasprites 'worked to the bone' - experts
Julia Gabel (Herald): Defence Force choppers to be replaced at cost of more than $2b – Judith Collins
RNZ: Defence Force maritime helicopters to be replaced at cost of over $2 billion
Anna Whyte (Post): ‘Critical’ $2b Defence Force maritime helicopter replacements announced (paywalled)
Helen Clark and Marco de Jong (Herald) Subservience puts New Zealand’s sovereignty and security at risk (paywalled)
Steve Maharey (Herald): In the shadow of Trump, New Zealand needs a new direction (paywalled)
Ryan Ward: NZ Initiative's free trade fairytale
Eric Crampton (Post): How not to navigate the imminent impact of America’s tariff shocks (paywalled)
Jane Mellsop (NBR): New Zealand needs to push back on protectionism (paywalled)
Jennifer Curtin (Post): Unpicking the forces behind Labor’s historic Australian election win (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Politik): Learning from Oz (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): Peter Dutton’s massive Australian election loss has lessons for New Zealand (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Australia, Canada elections spark talk of ‘Trump effect’
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Political quakes show how quickly things change
Gordon Campbell (Scoop): On The Aussie Election Finale
RNZ: Winston Peters concludes 'constructive visit' to New Caledonia
Jasper Auld (ISO): Reject ANZAC Day – Speech at the 2025 Peace Picnic
Asia Pacific Report: New Zealand condemned for failing to make ICJ humanitarian case over Gaza genocide
Stuff: Video shows scuffle at University of Canterbury pro-Palestine protest
PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SECTOR, WEEK IN POLITICS
Peyton Bond (Newsroom): Voting rights don’t stop at the prison gate
Amnesty International: Chilling Government proposal to remove voting rights
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Inside the battle for Labour’s wealth tax and how it was lost – this time (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): The battle for the political narrative (paywalled)
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Prime Minister rejects claims that there are too many ministers
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): David Seymour says there are too many ministers, does he have a point?
Herald Editorial: It is time to remove the weeds from our ministerial portfolios (paywalled)
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Less ministers and govt. departments? Yes please! (paywalled)
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): What's the point of a minister without a budget?
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Benjamin Doyle: ‘No matter how hard people try and disappear us, we exist’
Brent Edwards (NBR): Budget cuts, student attendance, Tory and Labour, MPs are back
Mike Houlahan (ODT): The end is nigh/everything is great (delete as appropriate) (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Three good ideas from the Govt this week
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The secret diary of .. Riders on the storm
Sophie Neville (Woman’s Day): Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson opens up about her cancer journey
Herald: National MP Tom Rutherford praised for helping distressed man on busy Tauranga highway
1News: Q+A: Public service boss: Sector 'not as politicised' as some say
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Public Service cuts: what if anything has ‘broken’ so far? (paywalled)
Anna Whyte and Ffion Heale (Post): How many Kiwi public servants work overseas? (paywalled)
ABUSE IN CARE
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Lake Alice survivor legally challenges Crown redress
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Lake Alice survivor takes Govt to court over redress scheme
Julia Gabel (Herald): Abuse in care: Lake Alice survivor asks court to review Govt’s redress scheme
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Lake Alice survivor delays cancer treatment to take Government to court
HEALTH, DISABILITY
Mariné Lourens (Press): ‘Cream skimming’ - how private hospitals will choose who they treat, and leave the toughest cases to the public system (paywalled)
RNZ: ‘They’re worried': Dunedin locals fear hidden cuts to new hospital services, Labour says
ODT Editorial: Clarity needed on beds (paywalled)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): PM brushes off hospital concerns
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Willis defends govt’s build record
Monique Steele (RNZ): New Zealand to host global rural health event; leaders spurred to act
Ian Powell: Widening gap between health system leadership and health workforce
RNZ: Senior doctors not ruling out more strike action over ongoing pay disagreement
Victor Waters (RNZ): Public Service Association calls for investigation into cuts to Te Whatu Ora anti-fraud roles
Brittany Keogh (Post): Thousands of kids eligible for free meningococal B vaccine could miss out (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Will the Covid inquiry submitters get the answers we want?
Victor Waters (RNZ): 'Milestone' multiple sclerosis treatment set to ease strain on NZ hospitals
Ava Whitworth (Stuff): ‘I don’t know where I’d be without them’: Women’s Centre battling to stay open after funding cuts
Rachel Helyer Donaldson (RNZ): East meets Aotearoa: NZ and Japan join forces on health innovation
EDUCATION, TRAINING
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Doubt cast on plans for third med school (paywalled)
Tansy Oliver (Spinoff): The new English curriculum is not the real enemy
Thomas Manch (Post): Sir Brian Roche take reins for bargaining with principals, teachers (paywalled)
Glenn Marshall (Stuff): School boards largely operate as judge, jury, and executioner
Moana Ellis (Local Democracy Reporting): Seymour’s truancy appeal contradicts government's own directive, Whanganui mayor says
Virginia Fallon (Sunday Star Times): Teachers on truancy: ‘What the hell is a mayor meant to do?’ (paywalled)
Jonathan Leask (Local Democracy Reporting): Mayors ‘have enough on their plates' without adding truancy support
Ellen O’Dwyer (RNZ): School lunch programme: More than a dozen food safety issues investigated
RNZ: Education Minister launches new Parent Portal
Anna Whyte (Stuff): ‘Parent’s portal’ for English and maths curriculums launched
1News: Govt launches new resource to help parents support classroom learning
John Gerritsen (RNZ): More high-achieving teens heading overseas after finishing school
1News: Calls for limits to school-specific uniform items
Katie Ham (Post): Student too scared to go to school after receiving dozens of threats each day (paywalled)
Edward Gay (Stuff): No police vet or safety check before rapist allowed in classroom
Paula Penfold (Stuff): The ‘disgusting’ comment that sparked a school principal’s apology
Claire Robinson (Post): Creative industries critical to the future - but left out of govt’s Industry Skills Board proposal (paywalled)
FAST-TRACK, INFRASTRUCTURE
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Trustee resigns over ‘unproven cronyism’ in fast-tracked dam
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): New RMA’s ‘chilling effect’ on councils threatened with court action
Roger Partridge (Herald): Political flip-flopping is threatening New Zealand’s ability to build long-term infrastructure
Roeland van den Bergh (Post): Steel & Tube boss frustrated over cancelled infrastructure projects
JUSTICE, POLICE, CRIME
Derek Cheng (Herald): Short jail sentences don’t work: Why Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell wants them longer, even if it means ‘huge’ prisoner numbers (paywalled)
Alexander Plum and Kabir Dasgupta (The Conversation): This NZ law aims to give people with criminal convictions a ‘clean slate’. It’s not working
Ben Leahy (Herald): Police say 349 recruits didn’t take swim assessment designed to help with water emergencies
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): More than 300 new cops not assessed on swimming, review finds
Katie Ham (Post): Top cop’s latest hire heralds new era of police-media relations (paywalled)
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Explained: Why are gun laws being reformed, again?
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): Social chaos and the high cost of politicising the drug problem (paywalled)
Joseph Los’e (Herlad): Ngāpuhi asks police for Ōpōtiki-style crackdown on methamphetamine in Northland
Herald Editorial: Community needs to buy-in to meth crackdown (paywalled)
Peter de Graaf (RNZ): Northland's meth crisis: 'There's no magic wand for any of this'
RNZ: Retail theft and the rise of public shaming: Legal expert warns against vigilante tactics
Katie Ham (Post): ‘Wake-up call’: Retail crime significantly under-reported, new report finds (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): Why death has become an officially-sanctioned secret (paywalled)
Jake Kenny (Press): Tension between agencies over recently released prisoner who went on to kill (paywalled)
Neil Reid (Herald): Organised crime syndicates making millions from smuggling tobacco into New Zealand (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): Why Tory Whanau couldn’t overcome the capital’s one-term curse (paywalled)
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Whanau makes it a trifecta, so what’s up with Wellington’s string of single-term mayors?
RNZ: Tory Whanau believes politics has become a lot more 'toxic' especially for wāhine Māori
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An Ode to .. Tory Whanau
Tom Hunt (Post): Councillors behaving badly? WCC class of 2025 take the crown (paywalled)
RNZ: Construction on Wellington's Golden Mile to begin
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington City Council considering lease deal to get Johnsonville mall action (paywalled)
Ziming Li (RNZ): What you need to know about Auckland’s local elections
David Long (Stuff): The race is on: Kerrin Leoni launches campaign to be Auckland’s next mayor
Andrea Vance (Post): Labour scrambling as South Auckland candidate withdraws (paywalled)
Tim Macindoe (Sunday Star Times): Candidates Corner: Tim Macindoe on balancing Hamilton’s books
Sarah Thomson (Sunday Star Times): Candidates Corner: Sarah Thomson on tackling Hamilton’s big challenges
Alisha Evans (Local Democracy Reporting): Tauranga businesses fear impact of expanded paid parking
Jimmy Ellingham (RNZ): Vote set for sugary drinks ban at Palmerston North council venues
Chris Lynch: Templeton mayoral bid struggles to gain council endorsement
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): The Detail: In Central Otago, historic buildings on the council chopping block
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): ‘Literally explode their rates money’ - The city where fireworks fizzed out
HOUSING
David Long (Stuff): Wayne Brown doing a deal with Chris Bishop to stem three-terrace new builds in Auckland
Maria Slade (BusinessDesk): Long way to go before building regulatory gaps are plugged (paywalled)
Amy Williams (RNZ): Kāinga Ora can't subdivide $4m Ponsonby state house property without council permission
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): The ‘eccentric’ Auckland woman fighting eviction, with Mayor Wayne Brown’s support
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Former mayor’s callout ‘extraordinary (paywalled)
Greg Ninness (Interest): Residential auction activity on the wane as autumn takes a grip
Greg Ninness (Interest): Downturn in residential construction may have hit the bottom and be starting to turnaround
BOB JONES
Post: Nicholas Boyack: Sir Bob Jones, the man who dominated the skyline (paywalled)
RNZ: Sir Bob Jones' death 'huge loss for New Zealand', Prime Minister says
David Farrar: RIP Bob Jones
Amy Ridout and Sam Smith (Stuff): 'Pugnacious’ Bob Jones remembered as a complex, colourful character
Jane Phare (Herald): Sir Bob Jones dies in Wellington - the colourful and controversial life of a property magnate (paywalled)
RNZ: Businessman and politician Sir Bob Jones dead at 85
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): New Zealand is duller without Sir Bob Jones
Brett Kerr-Laurie (Press/Post): Sir Bob Jones’ controversial vision for post-quake Christchurch: Turn CBD into a lake (paywalled)
