WILLIS V RICHARDSON, ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Ruth Richardson v Nicola Willis – the facts behind the argument (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): Willis v Richardson: The ultimate beltway confection (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): Ruth Richardson backs down on demand Nicola Willis debate be on talkback (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Ruth Richardson still willing to debate Nicola Willis after dispute over venue
Sam Smith (Stuff): Labour MP calls proposed debate between Nicola Willis and Ruth Richardson a ‘sham’ debate between ‘two arsonists’
Josie Pagani (Post): Willis v Richardson: Enough of the fudging, it’s time for a proper debate (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): New Zealand’s Fiscal Diabetes
Ben Leahy (Herald): Kiwibank economic outlook: Brighter days ahead with 2026 recovery tipped
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): ‘Robust recovery’ tipped by Kiwibank as evidence grows economy has turned a corner (paywalled)
James Pollard (Post): More people crowdfunded for essential needs like food and housing in 2025, according to GoFundMe (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On Why Christmas Spending Is Starting To Feel Like A Scam
Liam Dann (Herald): Surviving in ‘25: Was the year really as bad as it felt? (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SERVICE, YEAR IN REVIEW
Ani O’Brien: What’s the story? Willie Jackson and MUMA
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Christopher Luxon mounts leadership defence: ‘I know what it took to rebuild’
Justin Hu (1News): Luxon says Kiwis ‘very clearly’ see economy turning, defends Willis
Giles Dexter (RNZ): ‘Opportunity to stamp my own mark’: Chris Hipkins promises a different Labour
Luke Malpass (Post): Chris Bishop’s big rewrite shows how far the state has drifted from competence (paywalled)
Max Rashbrooke (Post): Why this might be the ‘angry centrist’ election (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): How Te Pāti Māori fell apart: Court documents reveal profanities, strict rules, and backstory to civil war (paywalled)
Damien Grant (Stuff): Outside the headlines, a cohort of outstanding ministers is actually delivering
Gordon Campbell: On The Shrinking Lack Of Alternatives Here, And In The US
Phil Smith (RNZ): The House: Crimes bill adds things outside usual rules
Kate Newton (RNZ): Parliament debates climate targets under urgency
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Urgent debates in Parliament go into wee hours of the morning
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Arming up for emergency legislation and lengthy urgency (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): Good riddance 2025 - you were a year to forget (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Wayne Brown backed by billionaires and developers in $611k campaign haul
Todd Niall (Newsroom): Wayne Brown’s big-end-of-town donors
Harriet Laughton (Post): Government advice says rates cap will hurt tourism (paywalled)
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Regions must band together to avoid being pushed, Wellington mayor says
Gwynn Compton (Local Aotearoa): Will Kāpiti shape reorganisation, or be shaped by it?
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Could Wellington finally be ready to merge?
Linda Hall (Local Democracy Reporting): Deputy mayor slams Napier mayor’s failed committee move
Pokere Paewai (RNZ): Proposal to remove mana whenua voice at Napier City Council fails
Jonathan Killick (Post): Auckland’s Downtown car park officially sold - now what? (paywalled)
Torika Tokalau (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Dead duck’: Decision looms on contentious Auckland rubbish trial
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Councillors to receive 4.8% pay rise
RMA REFORM
Bill McKay (The Conversation): Faster, cheaper … but better? The devil in the resource management reform detail
Ani O’Brien: New Zealand’s Planning Revolution: bye bye RMA
Tim Scott (ODT): Change to RMA ‘could kill venues’ (paywalled)
CONSERVATION, ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE
Andrea Vance (Post): Humpback whale dies in craypot rope (paywalled)
Kira Carrington (Local Democracy Reporting): The marine species that have ‘totally disappeared’ from Marlborough Sounds
Gordon Campbell: On Our Reneging On Climate Change, And Labour’s Chronic Evasiveness
Rodd Carr (Sunday Star Times): Creative accounting by Govt on climate guarantees a more expensive future (paywalled)
No Right Turn: A regime of arsonists
No Right Turn: The “market-led transition”
Kate Newton (RNZ): Record warm spring across country part of climate’s ‘new normal’
Matthew Nash (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Nowhere near enough’: 780-tonne lake weed disaster lays bare Rotorua’s funding gap
POLICE
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): An IPCA report, Ms Z and 36 emails: Police Minister Mark Mitchell’s final words on Jevon McSkimming saga
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Police press on with prosecution of Jevon McSkimming accuser ‘Ms Z’
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Police continue to pursue charges against woman at centre of Jevon McSkimming scandal
No Right Turn: End this outrageous prosecution
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The secret diary of .. Sheriff Mark Mitchell
Jonathan Ayling (Herald): Andrew Coster and the cost of owning mistakes (paywalled)
Amelia Wade (Sunday Star Times): Exclusive: Inside the room where police are forced to face up to their biggest mistakes investigating sex crimes (paywalled)
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): A 60 percent cut to the Wellington maritime police means they will no longer be responding 24/7
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Survivor not holding out hope for justice in Vietnam cop sexual assault case
HEALTH
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Consultants hired to run Health NZ’s IT service desk after layoffs
Rob Kidd (ODT): HNZ to meet embattled OHL board (paywalled)
Harriet Laughton (Post): Stop smoke service losing funding over vape refusal says clause wasn’t in original contract (paywalled)
Mariné Lourens (Press/Post): Study shows poverty linked to higher risk of blood cancer (paywalled)
Jim Mann (Newsroom): Weight loss drugs aren’t the be-all and end-all
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): After-hours care at risk: GP (paywalled)
DISABILITY
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): IHC settles 2012 Human Rights Review Tribunal claim with government
RNZ: Minister seeks advice as Supreme Court decision rules two carers are government employees
Kate Green (RNZ): Full-time carers’ appeal for employee status upheld by Supreme Court
Kate Green (RNZ): Getting through a natural disaster with a disability
EMPLOYMENT, BUSINESS, CONSUMER AFFAIRS
1News: Minimum wage to increase 2% from April 1
Julia Gabel & Jamie Ensor (Herald): Minimum wage to increase from April next year, Govt commits to bigger rise than last year
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Minimum wage workers to get pay increase next year
Aimee Shaw (Post): Disappointing Black Friday 2025 was lost in a sea of sales, say retailers (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): On the Money: Cordis Bros at Cordis Xmas, Anna Breman, Chris Castle, Nicola Willis, Warren Bell, Craig Bonnor, and more (paywalled)
HOUSING
Zane Small (Stuff): Kāinga Ora’s outgoing CEO defends tougher approach to tenants, scaling back developments
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Former Cabinet Minister Maurice Williamson warns Auckland housing plan could cost National votes
RNZ: People facing ‘imminent homelessness’ not eligible for emergency housing, Citizens Advice Bureau says
Matthew Martin (Waikato Times/Post): Ratepayer funds on the line after failed Tairua subdivision (paywalled)
Max Frethey (Local Democracy Reporting): Tasman needs more townhouses - Could a design competition help?
Ben Tomsett (Herlad): Dunedin university student rental flat inspections uncover widespread failings
MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Media in the middle of fudge stunts, debate drama and ‘right v left’ rows
Press Editorial: (Post): Should we follow Australia’s lead on social media? (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): The success of Australia’s social media ban is up to parents (paywalled)
Cecilia Robinson (Herald): Australia social media ban: What it means for New Zealand teens now (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): National Business Review bans Inland Revenue after alleged copyright breach
BANKS, RESERVE BANK, INTEREST RATES
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): New Reserve Bank governor walks into the lions’ den (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Rising home loan rates blamed on ‘another misstep from Reserve Bank’
Damien Venuto (Stuff): ‘Misstep by the Reserve Bank’: Where house prices will go in 2026 as interest rate bogeyman returns
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Are recent mortgage rate increases justified? Banks accused of putting profits ahead of NZ’s economic recovery (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): ASB quietly stops offering some mortgage rate discounts as Westpac hikes its longer-term rates (paywalled)
Andrew Gunn: Talking tough to your bank
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Another bank lifts home loan rates
ENERGY
Kirsty Johnston (RNZ): Lost in transition: The businesses trapped by New Zealand’s energy crisis
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Offshore wind firm exits NZ as seabed mine seeks consent
Rod McNaughton (Post): NZ productivity crisis is now an energy crisis (paywalled)
Herald: Meridian Energy to spill water from Benmore Dam as South Island lakes rise
Ian Llewellyn (BusinessDesk): Transpower warns electricity sector ‘less resilient’ if lake limits eased (paywalled)
Diane McCarthy (Local Democracy Reporting): Neighbours fume over plans to axe trees for solar farm
CARTOONS