ELECTION 2026
Amanda Gillies (RNZ): The most unpredictable yet most dull election campaign in recent history
Giles Dexter (RNZ): ASA partly upholds complaint against ‘misleading’ National attack ad
Emma Gleason (Spinoff): All the best (and most questionable) political party merch for election 2026
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Chris Hipkins holds first public meeting of campaign, meeting supporters and a cat
Anneke Smith (Post): ‘I’m just getting warmed up’: How Chris Hipkins fared in his first public meeting of the campaign (paywalled)
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Chris Hipkins says he’s just getting warmed up as supporter questions lack of energy
Richard Harman: Hipkins goes home to try out his campaign (paywalled)
Janet Wilson (Post): The rise of minor parties will define this election (paywalled)
Richard Prebble (Herald): Labour v coalition Government: Who scores higher on health, crime and cost of living? (paywalled)
David Farrar: Poll highs and lows
Sapeer Mayron (BusinessDesk): BusinessDesk Poll Tracker: Opportunity’s chances still alive, Labour and National poll below 30% (paywalled)
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Paul Henry on never giving a shit what anyone thinks
Andrea Vance (Post): Paul Henry has the laughs. It’s the politics that needs work (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The battle of ideologies at play
Science Media Centre: 2026 Election Q&A – Science
Chris Trotter: Heading For Trouble (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): National focuses on voters’ worries about today (paywalled)
Adam Pearse (Herald): Former cop and new Labour candidate Rakesh Naidoo not holding a grudge after being investigated for leaking
Tom Hunt (Post): National Party pulled up by advertising watchdog on Labour tax claim (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (Post): Labour candidate Rakesh Naidoo takes high road after turbulent entry to politics (paywalled)
RNZ: Labour’s Chris Hipkins says his party won’t be intimidated by ‘anti-science’
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Labour would prioritise recognition of Palestine, sanctions on Israel
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): No hard feelings: Rakesh Naidoo refuses to hit back after police row
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): First in the family to go to uni in ‘5000 years’: Off-the-wall ad-libs at Luxon’s final public meeting
Anneke Smith and Tom Hunt (Post): ‘We were having to physically shove them back’: Candidates shield Verrall from agitators (paywalled)
Stuff: Luxon’s latest town hall: Hangovers, hallelujahs, & screams of ‘Help!’
PARLIAMENT, GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICE
Bryce Edwards: Winston Peters’ diplomatic double standard
Jaenine Parkinson (Post): Our cultural institutions are under pressure. So is our inheritance (paywalled)
RNZ: Government inquiry report into Tauranga landslides delayed until February
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): We need to break this stereotype in NZ
David Farrar: A weird speech by the Chief Ombudsman
Ryan Bridge (Newstalk ZB): Cutting red tape by adding complexity
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Iwi forestry companies and directors among those in council’s crosshairs
Christine Rose: Bottom trawling - an election bottom line
Tim Scott (ODT): OceanaGold lodges $7.5 billion fast-track application for Macraes expansion (paywalled)
Tim Hunter (NBR): Energy: Divided over gentailer separation (paywalled)
Dita De Boni (Post): OceanaGold launches mega-bid to extend controversial Macraes Mine until 2036 (paywalled)
Joanne Naish (Press): Half of Westport adults sign letter backing coal mine expansion, organisers say (paywalled)
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): NZ pushes back against flood of global climate lawsuits (paywalled)
Jamie Gray (Herald): Mercury opens Kaiwera Downs Stage 2, completes South Island’s biggest wind farm
Keiller MacDuff (RNZ): Water regulator tells Canterbury Regional Council long-term nitrate limits being considered
Tess Brunton (RNZ): $600 million Southland wind farm officially opens|Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): The jungle drums are starting to thrum for the fast-track regime
NBR: Political parties put heat on climate, ‘broken’ ETS (paywalled)
RNZ: OceanaGold seeks fast-track approval for Macraes mine extension
Tess Brunton (RNZ): New Southland wind turbines already adding power to the grid
HEALTH
Michael Morrah (Herald): Waikato Hospital ED patient collapses in waiting room, requires CPR
Audrey Young (Herald): The fierce political battle over New Zealand’s real nursing numbers (paywalled)
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): People risking irreversible heart damage over concerns about busy emergency departments
RNZ: Waikato University wants millions in ratepayer subsidies for new medical school
Rachel Graham (RNZ): Cost and vaccine hesitancy lead to low flu vaccination rates - Christchurch clinic
Ian Powell: Privatising first specialist assessments
Sally Mackay, Kelly Garton, Boyd Swinburn and Angela Beros (Public Health Communications Centre): Government inaction on unhealthy food revealed in new research
Paula Penfold (Stuff): ‘The system’s just broken me’: Why an emergency department nurse walked away
ODT: Editorial – Picking up the call (paywalled)
Amy Williams (RNZ): More women disclosing family violence to workplaces
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