ELECTION 2026
Jessica Hopkins (RNZ): Turkish delight and tax fights: Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins hit the campaign trail
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): ‘Don’t vote for me’: Candidate’s off-the-cuff political deal
Lianne Dalziel (Newsroom): Political rivals’ respectful debate opens door to new era of town hall meetings
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Heckling, ‘bitching’ and a cat at Hipkins’ first public chat
Azriel Taylor (Herald): Real Life: Labour Leader Chris Hipkins opens up about his childhood, values, and why he remains in politics
David Cohen (Herald): The difficult history Chris Hipkins will need to overcome to win the election (paywalled)
Chris Trotter (LawNews): Reclaiming Aotearoa: Is New Zealand ready for Te Pāti Māori’s plan for top-down indigenous revolution?
Chris Trotter (ODT): The difficult art of putting a handbrake on extremism (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Luxon 20, Hipkins 1: Has Labour mistimed its run? (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Herald): National Tāmaki candidate Mahesh Muralidhar explains tax stance after video raised eyebrows, highlights business experience (paywalled)
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): Arborist-turned-Port Waikato candidate wants to prune bureaucracy
Charlotte Cook (RNZ): The five candidates vying to be Wairarapa’s next MP
Leonie Sheehan (Herald): East Cape election candidates challenged over health system
Mike Tweed (Herald): Whanganui-based political party Balance New Zealand launches
Adam Pearse (Herald): NZ First immigration policies revealed: Citizenship, deportation and resident visa cap referendum among policy platform
Michael Fallow (Post): ACT has billion-dollar problem fixes, and a $1 issue to fix: Henry (paywalled)
Stuff: Should we be taking inspiration from other countries, for a better election system?
Anna Fifield: The Winston Peters paradox
ELECTION SECURITY AND THREATS
Hannah Filmer (Herald): Chris Hipkins says campaign trail won’t be disrupted despite death threats, police presence in meetings
Anneke Smith (Post): Police monitoring campaign candidates as election tensions spill over (paywalled)
Ethan Manera (Herald): Extra security called in to campaign events amid rising threats to politicians
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Agencies join forces as election threats mount
MSD PAYMENT ERRORS
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Ministry of Social Development payment errors topped $2.5m, thousands affected - review
Julia Gabel (Herald): MSD review: Tens of thousands of payments wrongly cut in policy bungle
Nick James (Post): MSD review: Ministry says botched law and workloads caused thousands to miss payments (paywalled)
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Tens of thousands of people affected by MSD errors, review confirms
Stuff: Tens of thousands underpaid after MSD law rushed under urgency
Justin Hu (1News): Minister’s job ‘untenable’ after review of MSD payment errors – Greens
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Pensioner hit in the pocket by two MSD botch-ups not confident it won’t happen again
WAITANGI TRIBUNAL AND TREATY
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Act wants to abolish Waitangi Tribunal once final historical claim settled
Giles Dexter (RNZ): ACT sets out plan to wind up Waitangi Tribunal
Justin Hu (1News): ACT vows to abolish Waitangi Tribunal when historical claims done
Sam Smith (Stuff): ACT would disestablish Waitangi Tribunal once outstanding Treaty claims completed
LawNews: ACT will wind up Waitangi Tribunal by 2040
Liam Rātana (Spinoff): Act wants to abolish the Waitangi Tribunal. What do experts make of the party’s policy?
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Will ACT’s big plan actually scrap the Waitangi Tribunal?
Taiha Molyneux (RNZ): Thousands support petition against proposed amendments to Treaty references in legislation
1News: Government invests $8 million in Waitangi Treaty Grounds
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ONLINE SAFETY
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Labour rides public wave to dump on AI
Neil Sands (LawNews): Labour unveils plans to control and regulate the use of AI
David Harvey: The Trojan Horse of Labour Party AI Policy
Damien Venuto (Stuff): Worried about losing your job to AI? Here’s what it’ll actually cost your boss to replace you
Patrick Dodd and Hanoku Bathula (The Conversation): AI setting prices based on what it thinks you’ll pay - how do we feel about that?
Katrina Colombié (Post): Children’s online safety shouldn’t come down to election bargaining chips (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT, GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICE
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Budget spending to add 1300 net new public service jobs a year despite talk of cuts
Roger Partridge (Herald): Why making the law is Parliament’s job (paywalled)
Kate McVicar (NBR): Caught in limbo: fisheries amendments dangle on votes cast (paywalled)
Natalia Albert: We need an engineer, not PwC: The future of the public service
Rachel Pannett (BusinessDesk): Regulation Ministry acknowledges parts of hospitality report (paywalled)
Paul Gorman (Post): Why is MetService still homeless? Questions remain over future of public weather warnings (paywalled)
KIWIMART AND SUPERMARKETS
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): The Greens raise the stakes on supermarket reform with KiwiMart
Gamaliel Ramos (Post): The Greens want a state-run supermarket; I’ve got a better idea (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Post): ComCom ‘not satisfied’ with vege wholesale merger proposal (paywalled)
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