GOVT INQUIRY INTO COVID SPENDING
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Why it took years for the Government to investigate the Reserve Bank’s Covid money
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Nicola Willis’ Reserve Bank inquiry asks the right questions at the wrong time (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Government orders independent review of Reserve Bank policies during Covid-19 (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Government instigates surprise inquiry into Reserve Bank’s $55 billion Covid money-printing binge
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): A funny kind of argument - Why shouldn’t voters know before they vote?
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Labour accuses Nicola Willis of ‘political manipulation’ over timing of RBNZ Covid review (paywalled)
Mandy Te (Interest): Government launches independent review of NZ’s monetary policy response to Covid-19
Justin Hu (1News): Nicola Willis orders review into Reserve Bank’s pandemic decisions
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Government launches independent review into Reserve Bank’s Covid-19 response
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Government orders independent review of Covid-era monetary policy
WELLINGTON SEWAGE FAILURES
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Welcome to Wellington, a once vibrant city surrounded by its own faeces
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington Water calls in lawyers as sewage flow threatens to worsen (paywalled)
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): Raw sewage still pouring into Welly waters raises questions, and anger
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Wellington Water quiet on Moa Point plans, cites upcoming inquiry
Nick James (RNZ): Moa Point failure: Wellington Water won’t speak on inquiry issues
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Fears of another Moa Point, as scale of wastewater plants problem revealed
Tim Brown (Herald): The Moa Point mess is not a one-off (paywalled)
RNZ: Moa Point: Regional mayors have their say on what happens next and who will pay
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington sewage spill: ‘Crazy’ blowflies in Lyall Bay as rain again threatens Moa Point sewage plant (paywalled)
John Braddock (World Socialist Website): New Zealand’s capital city faces environmental disaster from massive sewage leak
Anna Whyte (Post): ‘Systemic’ wastewater issues exposed as water authority admits limits (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Wet weather threatens further Wellington sewage discharge (paywalled)
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Holy cow, so much poo is spilling into the sea
RNZ: Watch: Where Wellington’s sewage is drifting in the harbour
Karanama Ruru (Stuff): Watch: Wastewater leak streaks across Wellington’s south coast
ENERGY
Kate Newton (RNZ): Government wants to bypass fast-track process for proposed liquefied natural gas terminal
Janet Wilson (Post): The slick sales job the country doesn’t need (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Spinoff): National’s LNG blunders are a warning ahead of election campaign
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): Bidder’s message: Build LNG, expect upward pressure on gas prices (paywalled)
Jen Purdie (The Conversation): Importing gas locks NZ into fossil fuels for longer – just as clean energy surges
RNZ: Finance Minister promises to release data showing gas plan will lower power bills
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Rising power costs: Simple switches that could save households hundreds
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Gaslighting our way to an LNG terminal (paywalled)
Jamie Morton (Newsroom): NZ needs to pay power firms to build renewable generation – professor
Ian Llewellyn (BusinessDesk): Cabinet seeks urgent bespoke LNG law to cut risk premium (paywalled)
Peter Griffin (BusinessDesk): New Zealand’s energy crunch: Can innovation keep the lights on? (paywalled)
ELECTION, PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Richard Prebble (Herald): Labour’s policy vacuum risks giving Green Party the agenda (paywalled)
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): Why Auckland has weird politics
Henry Cooke (Post): ‘That’s why governments exist’: Shane Jones defiant as half of $433m regional fund at risk (paywalled)
Tini Molyneux (Te Ao Māori News): Labour vows for vigorous competition in winning the Māori seats
Phil Smith (RNZ): The House: Question Time gets more pointedly political
Henry Cooke (Post): ‘Poor bastards have to give up their money for this crap’: David Seymour slams Shane Jones over regional loan book (paywalled)
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): This is Winston doing as Winston does
Sam Smith (Stuff): Sir John Key urges National against leadership change, concedes election will be tight
Samuel Sherry (Herald): Sir John Key reveals advice for National’s Christopher Luxon to win election
Henry Cooke (Post): Hazard insurance levy ‘needs to go up’ but Government won’t hike it for now (paywalled)
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): Clean drinking water is an essential need. Will the new RMA put it at risk?
CORRUPTION AND INTEGRITY
Brent Edwards (NBR): Real change needed for lobbying and campaign finance rules (paywalled)
RNZ: New Zealand’s corruption-free reputation takes hit for fourth-year in a row - survey
No Right Turn: The cost of National
LAW
Lane Nichols (Herald): Video of Michael Reed, KC asked to leave NZ First’s Northern Club event played at Judicial Conduct Panel probe into Judge Ema Aitken
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Video of Michael Reed KC being asked to leave NZ First event played at probe into Judge Ema Aitken
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Judge accused of disrupting NZ First event won’t resign over ‘something she did not do’
Lane Nichols (Herald): Judge Ema Aitken conduct hearing told senior judges may be reluctant to aid special counsel
Laura Tupou (1News): Judge accused of disrupting NZ First fundraiser ‘loud and threatening’
ECONOMY AND EMPLOYMENT
Damien Venuto (Stuff): Experts keep saying the economy is improving. Here’s why it still feels so hard to get ahead
RNZ: NZ looks to be on firmer footing in 2026, Westpac economist says
Rob Stock (Post): Make them pay: New Zealand has the meanest companies in the west, budget mentors tell MPs (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Westpac economists tip strong economic growth as recovery accelerates (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Post): IRD crackdown on unpaid tax debt plunges more businesses into liquidation (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): Crimson Education names Sir John Key as chairman, hints at IPO, more acquisitions (paywalled)
Victoria Young and Riley Kennedy (BusinessDesk): Moo-terial matters: Fonterra’s uber audit bill from KPMG (paywalled)
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Government tweaks law so contractors can’t challenge employment status retrospectively
Fleur Fitzsimons (Post): NZ First could determine the future of worker rights (paywalled)
BANKING
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Finance Minister Nicola Willis keeps secret documents on if banks paying fair share of tax ahead of Budget 2026 (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Banks praise select committee’s push for more banking competition (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Post): Has a new dawn for P2P lending arrived, cutting out the banks? (paywalled)
Bill Bennett (Herald): New Zealand banks race to replace legacy systems and unlock AI power
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE
Anne Gibson (Herald): $1 billion New Zealand International Convention Centre finally opened after 11 years
Rob Stock (Post): Auckland mayor Wayne Brown raises ghosts of the past at opening of convention centre (paywalled)
Denise McNabb (BusinessDesk): SkyCity: when grown-up gambling came to town 30 years ago (paywalled)
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Was Auckland’s new convention centre worth the wait
EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Teaching Council too focused on ‘being liked by the profession’ - review
Lane Nichols (Herald): Teaching Council review finds child safety has been neglected, urges ‘transformative’ change (paywalled)
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Schools accused of giving illegal scholarships to foreign students
RNZ: Ex-ministry staffer accuses government of ignoring education experts, teachers
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Blayne Slabbert (Press): Canterbury stakes out its own path, not waiting for Wellington (paywalled)
Steve Hepburn (ODT): ORC councillors slam proposed changes (paywalled)
Tina Law (Press): Another hit for Christchurch ratepayers as council proposes an almost 8% rates rise and wide-spread fee increases (paywalled)
Grant Miller (ODT): Councillor refuses to apologise (paywalled)
CARTOONS