PUBLIC SERVICE, PARLIAMENT AND MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT
Azaria Howell (Herald): Sir Brian Roche letter discusses more than halving public service agencies from 42 to 15-20
Anna Whyte (Interest): The major public service overhaul that hinges on the election and the two streams of change
Sam Smith (Stuff): Ten thousand public servants to strike next week over pay, union says
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Nearly 10,000 public servants to strike next week over pay and resourcing (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (Post): Paul Goldsmith makes history: Most portfolios this century (paywalled)
Nick James (Post): New Parliament offices will be in most seismically safe building in Wellington (paywalled)
Jaime Cunningham (Herald): Treasury warned Government not to rush new school assessment tool before data breach
Dave Armstrong (Post): Please don’t feed the hungry consultants (paywalled)
ELECTION 2026: FUEL TAX AND TRANSPORT FUNDING
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Labour and National taking turns kicking an expensive can down a potholed road
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): National and Labour’s fuel tax squabble puts NZ on a road to nowhere fast
Henry Oliver (Spinoff): A race to the bottom? The government delays fuel tax increase, Labour promises to freeze it
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Government delays increases to fuel taxes by one year
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Political courage would have left fuel taxes untouched, say sector bosses
Nick James (Post): Government scraps next year’s fuel hike (paywalled)
Sam Smith (Stuff): Government cancels fuel tax hike planned for 2027
1News: Govt scraps 2027 fuel excise increase, smaller rises from 2028
Adam Pearse (Herald): Govt drains emergency fund to extend fuel tax hike delay
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): Fuel tax, road user charges increase delayed to 2028 (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Interest): Fuel tax hike and RUC increase off the table, but where’s the money coming from?
ELECTION 2026: CAMPAIGN, PARTIES AND POLLING
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): John Campbell has been asking Chris Hipkins the same question repeatedly for several months now
Roy Morgan: New Zealand Poll: In August National-led Government leads Labour-led Parliamentary Opposition (49% vs. 41%), Opportunity Party support rises again to a record high of 9.5%
No Right Turn: Empty, entitled, arrogant, and exploitative
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): The man who made the election electric
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Act goes fishing for votes, leaving NZ First out at sea
Dita De Boni (Post): Winston Peters denies ‘utu’ or lobbying behind his new dairy policy aimed at Fonterra’s dominance (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Shane Jones accuses kiwifruit industry of ‘slave practices’
Fiona Rotherham (NBR): Ballots and business: is an election slowdown urban myth? (paywalled)
Will Johnston (Post): Taranaki senior issues in focus during Labour visit (paywalled)
ELECTION 2026: STUDENT LOANS AND THE BRAIN DRAIN
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Is cutting student loan repayments enough to stop the brain drain?
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Most young people ‘following their noses’ to find work, not dodging student loans, economist says
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Is National’s new student debt policy really going to stop our brain drain?
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): It’s about time the Government cracked down on debt dodgers
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Student loans should be paid back, but is this the solution?
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