Table of Contents
Republished with Permission
Author: Bryce Edwards
PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SECTOR
Tom Day (1News): Erica Stanford sent pre-Budget documents to her personal email
Russell Palmer (RNZ): National's Erica Stanford used personal email for work purposes
Julia Gabel (Herald): Senior Minister Erica Stanford sent official briefings to personal email account
Sam Smith (Stuff): National minister used personal email for government business
Mountain Tūi: What Shocked Me About Erica Stanford's Emails
Matthew Hooton (Patreon): Erica Stanford “scandal” is bad for NZ (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Herald): National tops 2024 list of party donations: Shane Jones’ partner lends $119k to NZ First
RNZ: National tops the list of donations to political parties with almost $5m in contributions
Thomas Manch (Post): Major party donors revealed, National draws in $4.8m (paywalled)
Chris Trotter: Adults in the Room.
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): MSD doesn't know if benefit sanctions leading people into work, says aim is compliance
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Work and Income pledges review after deaf woman denied service
Louis Collins (RNZ): The House: Cabinet-lite: Louise Upston sheds light on the Cabinet Committees
Tobias Macintosh (Stuff): When you openly admit you're the bad guys’: ACT mocked for celebrating Star Wars day with Death Star over Auckland
BUDGET, ECONOMY, RESERVE BANK
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Budget 2025: Govt saves $1b from hitting housing target early as Nicola Willis teases policy Treasury thinks will accelerate growth (paywalled)
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Luxon needs to grow into the Budget
Cameron Bagrie (BusinessDesk): Why NZ’s defence budget isn’t adding up (paywalled)
Josh Wineera (BusinessDesk): Finally, the business end of Defence’s big investments (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): 'Always going to be wrong': How do economists forecast the OCR?
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE
Grant Duncan (The Conversation): A ‘Trump slump’ has lifted the left in Canada and now Australia – what are the lessons for NZ?
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Lessons for Luxon
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Does Dutton’s downfall offer a warning to NZ’s right?
Gordon Campbell (Scoop): On Aussie Election Aftershocks And Life Lessons
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Front Page: Why Trump 2.0‘s first 100 days in office are drawing global concern
Post: PM ‘hasn’t given any thought’ to Trump film tariff threat
Jamie Ensor (Herald): New Zealand film officials discussing Donald Trump’s announcement of 100% tariff on films produced outside US
RNZ: Film industry anxiously awaits details on Trump's 100% movie tariff
Alka Prasad (Post): Trump’s film tariffs: NZ industry voices say don’t panic - just yet
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): Trump proposes 100% tariff on films ‘produced in foreign lands’, including NZ (paywalled)
Alex Casey (Spinoff): ‘Lacking in logic’: The NZ screen industry reacts to Trump’s 100% tariff on non-US films
RNZ: Government kick-starts trade negotiations with India
Herald: Christopher Luxon reveals FTA negotiations with India start this week
RNZ: Solid forecast for agriculture exports, despite tariffs
INEQUALITY, SOCIAL DIVISION
Brian Easton (Pundit): Are We Paying Enough Attention To The Working Class?
Rod Carr (Sunday Star Times): Middle class becoming the hunting ground for those who would polarise us (paywalled)
Josie Pagani (Post): Restoring politics as a broad church for the forgotten and neglected (paywalled)
Steven Joyce (Herald): Elections in Canada and Australia signal shift away from Trump-style politics (paywalled)
Shane Te Pou (Herald): We are witnessing the effects of social disunity (paywalled)
Mike King (Herald): Treaty Principles Bill is dead and buried but our silent division is dangerous
Carwyn Jones (E-Tangata): The building blocks of constitutional change
HEALTH
Phil Pennington (RNZ): 'Discord' over Dunedin hospital cutbacks seen as an extreme risk
Herald: Mental health shortages: Government under fire after Health NZ hides worker shortage data
Gary Payinda: Hiding Mental health staff shortages
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Gisborne health ‘crisis’: The regional hospital where doctors say vacancies have hit 44%
Bob Kerr (Spinoff): An Act to provide: the birth of our nation’s public health system
Jimmy Ellingham (RNZ): Palmerston North Hospital staff call for more security after violent attacks
Ruth Hill and Nicky Park (RNZ): RSV vaccine used in 40 other countries could save babies' lives - doctors
Elizabeth Fenton, John Crump and Emma Anderson (Newsroom): Updated pandemic treaty loses ethical focus
Carrie Clifford (E-Tangata): The kaupapa answer to a clinical crisis
ABUSE IN CARE, ORANGA TAMARIKI
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Minister reviewing torture redress amid legal challenge
RNZ: Oranga Tamariki struggles with rise in serious, 'critical' and 'very urgent' cases
HOUSING
Bryan Bruce: Our Vested Wealth Problem
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Auckland’s rural-urban boundary in Govt sights
Rob Stock (Post): Mortgage misery hits nine-year high, 24,000 home loans behind on repayments (paywalled)
Ben Leahy (Herald): See how one of NZ's biggest property traders made $5.4m flipping 71 homes (paywalled)
MEDIA
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: Bad stats and stereotypes boost bootcamp bid
Hayden Donnell (RNZ): Mediawatch: A war of letters at NZME
Gavin Ellis: Rise in press freedom ranking but ‘could do better’
Stuart Smith, Arena Williams (Stuff): The press acts as a public watchdog
Shayne Currie (Herald): Former high-flying National Cabinet Minister Steven Joyce in line to become new NZME chair under compromise deal (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): NZME’s new-look executive team - editor-in-chief returns to the top table, chief commercial officer leaving company (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): Former NZ Herald political editor Claire Trevett becomes a public servant, with a new senior police role (paywalled)
David Harvey: Content that Crosses the Line
David Harvey: Controlling the Narrative
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Video games, movies to decide own age ratings in censorship shakeup
Mike O’Donnell (Post): Substack shows how the old media and new can help each other (paywalled)
ANIMAL WELFARE, PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES
RNZ: No mention of cages in colony laid eggs - SAFE
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Greens want to close egg and meat ‘loophole’
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Police investigating after animal activists’ drone allegedly shot down by duck shooters
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Iwis oppose expansion of NZ’s largest gold mine (paywalled)
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Southland farming company slapped with fine over effluent discharge
Craig Ashworth (Local Democracy Reporting): Free talk brings minor accord on Taranaki water pollution
Gianina Schwanecke (RNZ): Farmers celebrate new rules to limit forestry conversions - but does a loophole still remain?
Gary Hamilton-Irvine (Hawkes Bay Today/Herald): Two more Central Hawke’s Bay farms sold to overseas buyers for forestry (paywalled)
Jacqueline Rowarth (Herald): New Zealand’s meat and dairy brand - time for a rethink?
EDUCATION, TRAINING
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Leaked documents say Kāhui Ako school programme 'set to be disestablished'
Patrick Walsh (Herald): Education Minister Erica Stanford’s investment can help future-proof learning support (paywalled)
Dave Armstrong (Post): Getting parents more involved in kids’ education (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): The parent portal is just an average Government website (paywalled)
Sapeer Mayron (Post): With just weeks to go, uni law school switches to handwritten exams (paywalled)
Bella Craig (RNZ): School roll rises force students into library, as other schools struggle to lift numbers
Herald Editorial: If we start to permanently lose our top performers, we all suffer (paywalled)
Lawrence Watt (Listener): From Aitutaki to algebra: Teaching maths through culture — now without government help (paywalled)
Matthew Martin (Waikato Times): All we want is a level playing field’ - Home schoolers fight back (paywalled)
Katie Fitzpatrick (Post): New sexuality guide for teens out of touch with reality (paywalled)
JUSTICE, POLICE, CRIME
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Mark Mitchell wants short prison sentences scrapped in hope of reducing reoffending
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming still on leave four months after suspension
Richard Willingham (ABC/RNZ): Former police commissioner Mike Bush set to be named as new Victoria Police chief commissioner
Michael Morrah (Herald): FBI arrests expose far-right cult with NZ links, DIA warns of victimisation
Jake Kenny (Press/Post): Predator John Hope Muchirahondo’s $1m publicly funded defence (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): Windbag: Tory Whanau is the anti-Jacinda
Tom Hunt (Post): Sewage leaking into Wellington Harbour for days (paywalled)
Laszlo Szollosi-Cira: Andrew Little Running for Wellington Mayor
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington mayoral candidate Graham Bloxham arrested
RNZ: Wellington mayoral candidate Graham Bloxham accused of failing to stop for police
Tom Hunt (Post): $600k Wellington boardwalk degrading, cars causing damage (paywalled)
Justin Wong (Post): Kāpiti Coast council not consulting on annual plan (paywalled)
Annemarie Quill (Stuff): ‘Spending money like drunken sailors’: Critics fume over council’s $200k video spend
RNZ: Taranaki councils seek feedback on combined water proposal
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Student quarter left out of draft plan: Influx ignored
Sinead Gill (Press): Pages Rd bridge: Christchurch council considering second attempt at fast-track list (paywalled)
Joanne Naish (Press): ‘Much loved' fountain is sinking but council can't afford to fix it
Jonathan Leask (Local Democracy Reporting): Stadium ticket levy gives people choice – Ashburton mayor
BANKS, FINANCIAL SERVICES
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Could Kiwibank's capital raise include foreign investment?
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Banking on blame: Scam reforms too little, too late (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): From no to go: ASB U-turns on POLi
RNZ: Westpac bank fined $3.25 million over its historic breaches
NBR: Westpac pinged $3.5m for overcharging, misleading customers (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Post): Westpac’s half-year profit rises 10% to $525 million (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Westpac’s NZ interest margin grows, Aussie margin shrinks
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): Westpac profit holds ground, as revenue and margins bounce up (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Post): Westpac seeks strategic relationship with insurer saying ‘lending risk appetite may change’ as climate alters (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Property investors warned about 'one-bank trap'
Roeland van den Bergh (Sunday Star Times): Creative ways to pay showcased to Minister and investors (paywalled)
ENVIRONMENT, CONVERSATION
David Williams (Newsroom): Ex-mayors square off over treating Queenstown’s sewage
Julia Gabel (Herald): Government asking for public feedback on landmark Predator Free 2050 strategy
Kate Green (RNZ): New goals for Predator Free strategy among proposed DOC changes
Paul Callister and Robert McLachlan (Newsroom): Gas-guzzling tourists are loving our whales to death
Max Rashbrooke (Post): This best-selling book on ‘abundance’ has got it wrong (paywalled)
Maria Armoudian (Post): The politics driving the mass tragedy of native species decline (paywalled)
Kevin E Trenberth (Newsroom): NZ oceanic ecosystems subject to biggest climate changes
Amy Ridout (Stuff): The stretch of NZ coastline where officials are struggling to police poaching
Barry Barton (The Conversation): The government plans to regulate carbon capture technologies – but who will be the regulating agency?
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Asbestos-laden fibre cement board washing up on Tāmaki Estuary beaches
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): Conservation Minister sees caulerpa’s ‘catastrophic’ impact in Bay of Islands
RNZ: Volunteers warn more is needed to halt invasive seaweed species
AGED CARE
Tracey Martin (Post): Aged care funding needs fixing – not finger-pointing (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Post): Is residential aged care giant Bupa skimping on tax? (paywalled)
Jenny Ruth: Rays of light in the listed aged-care sector (paywalled)
RNZ: Man, 71, dies in rest home from infected wound left untreated
MĀORI-CROWN RELATIONS
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): A rocky $2.7b atonement: Watchdog warning on Treaty settlement commitments
Ethan Manera (Herald): Wellington Museum defends flying Toitū Te Tiriti branded flag to mark Treaty anniversary
Dave Hull (Stuff): 'Te Tiriti is your friend - it’s nothing to be scared of': Hīkoi leader on why Māori rights benefit everyone
Moana Ellis (Local Democracy Reporting): Whanganui iwi leader takes place on Waitangi Tribunal
Gisborne Herald: Gisborne protest: Ngāti Oneone calls for return of ancestral land
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, EXTREME WEATHER
Maxine Jacobs (Press): Should lakes have been opened before farms flooded? (paywalled)
RNZ: ‘Strict conditions' govern when lakes can be emptied - ECan
Tim Brown (RNZ): Opening Lake Forsyth to ocean could have mitigated flooding, Little River residents say
RNZ: Emergency Management and Recovery Minister praises community after Canterbury floods
RNZ: Wellington residents without power 'left in limbo' as power outage goes on
Phoebe Utteridge (Stuff): Landlord says ongoing Wellington power outage ‘just not good enough’
Jonathan Killick (Sunday Star Times): Floods and frustration: When climate resilience meets resident resistance (paywalled)
AI
Benjamin Liu (Newsroom): Now’s our chance to lead on AI regulation
Jaime Cunningham (Herald): Ministry of Education defends AI guidance amid calls for clarity in schools
Bruce Munro (ODT): Raising AI (paywalled)
Eva de Jong (Herald): Netsafe reports 68% rise in sextortion in NZ as AI deepfake threats increase
BUSINESS
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Supermarket shoppers in regional NZ missing out, Consumer NZ says
Moana Ellis (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Critical Milestone’: Ruapehu mayor rallies support for Whakapapa comeback
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): On The Money: Watts, Watt, Walker, Wallace, and more (paywalled)
RNZ: Companies, directors fined $1.6m for altering tallow for profit
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Collaboration key to showcasing North Island tourism destinations
Miriam Bell (Post): New North Island tourism alliance announced
TRANSPORT
Sam Smith (Stuff): Rats, a ramming and a stranding: The troubled times of the Aratere
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): What the Mill Rd development could mean for those on its doorstep (paywalled)
Brianna McIlraith (Stuff): Why the Commerce Commission is not investigating Air New Zealand fares
NZ Energy: In defense of Air New Zealand
Caron Copek (Stuff): Checking Air NZ: To fly Timaru-Napier or drive? Which is cheaper?
Madeleine Powers (Waikato Times): Waikato’s campaign for Auckland to help save Te Huia from extinction (paywalled)
GENDER
Alka Prasad (Post): ‘Aggressive pushback’ on gender rights could set equity back a century, Kiwis hear at UN (paywalled)
Paul Thistle (Post): Human rights, not culture wars, are the solutions to social challenges (paywalled)
RNZ: Hundreds gather in Dunedin for protest against proposed gender legislation
Tim Scott (ODT): Standing in solidarity
Nāsili Vaka’uta (E-Tangata): A truth to be embraced, not a problem to be solved
Rachel Helyer Donaldson (RNZ): Wellington workshop makes space for women, gender diverse people
OTHER
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Influencers reject gambling promo amid Govt crackdown - two fail to comply
Liu Chen (RNZ): ‘Golden visa’ shutting out Chinese investors, legal experts say
Roeland van den Bergh and Dita De Boni (Post): Government funds new advanced tech platform from strategic science fund (paywalled)
Damien Grant (Stuff): Why free speech isn’t always free
Good Ideas: In Porirua, democracy's innovators deliver on their promises (paywalled)
Mike Dinsdale (Northern Advocate): New iwi-run social supermarket in Kaikohe opens to support the community
NBR: Power retailer Prime defaults, customers to switch (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The great man that was Sir Bob Jones
