PARLIAMENT, POLLS, GOVERNMENT
Adam Pearse (Herald): Te Pāti Māori emails members with serious allegations against Eru Kapa-Kingi and his mother, MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi
Rob Stock (Post): Insults fly over the other retrospective law the Government is trying to pass (paywalled)
Tom Day (1News): Poll: Luxon and Hipkins’ approval ratings tumble, coalition holds steady
1News: What do party leaders think of the latest 1News poll?
RNZ: Voters approval for leaders of National and Labour dropping significantly - poll
Jamies Ensor (Herald): Approval ratings for Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins drop in new political poll
Andrea Vance (Post): One in seven New Zealanders say violence may be needed to ‘get country back on track’ – poll (paywalled)
Peter Davis (Post): NZ is struggling on multiple fronts, so are we headed for failure? (paywalled)
Rob Campbell (Newsroom): A left-wing coalition now threatens those on the right
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): ‘Meth’ ministry moves: staffing data sought for four-way merger (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Chris Trotter (Interest): The real wonder is not that voter turnout is so low for local government elections, but that it remains so high
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Christopher Luxon ‘very open’ to Electoral Commission running local elections
Henry Cooke (Post): Prime Minister Christopher Luxon ‘very open’ to Electoral Commission taking over local elections (paywalled)
RNZ: Calls for urgent changes as local election turnout tumbles
Rawan Saadi (ODT): Low trust blamed for low turnout
Poppy Clark (Stuff): PM points to voters and candidates for dismal local election turnout
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Will cutting councils fix our abysmal voter turnout? (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Post): Govt considering ‘working group’ to wrangle rising water costs (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Urban-rural split on Māori wards as advocates eye next election
Tumamao Harawira (Te Ao Māori News): Over 400,000 vote yes to Māori wards - almost twice as many as those who voted no
Ethan Manera & Chris Knox (Herald): Local elections 2025: Biggest wins and closest calls as special votes loom
RNZ: Mayors, councillors calling their spot in tight election races
Caron Copek (Stuff): Tight mayoral races: The anxious wait for counting of local government votes
Samuel Sherry (Herald): Local election results: New mayors after razor‑thin vote margins
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): Local elections: Mayoral races narrow after preliminary vote tally (paywalled)
Samuel Sherry (Herald): Silly Hat Party, vampire and clown contenders among those to lose out in NZ local elections
LOCAL GOVERNMENT - NORTH ISLAND
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland councillors set priorities on transport, flooding, rates and roaming dogs (paywalled)
Amelia Wade (Post): Crime, business and social support: Auckland’s wish-list for Wayne (paywalled)
RNZ: Aucklanders consulted on trial to reduce rubbish collections to fortnight in parts of city
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Latest mayor to be ousted claims he’s a victim of ‘hate speech’
RNZ: Recount on cards as Northland election goes down to wire between three mayoral candidates
RNZ: New Wellington Mayor Andrew Little vows to protect ratepayers from ballooning costs
Ethan Manera (Herald): Andrew Little turns focus to Wellington’s ‘big issues’, says council reviewing Golden Mile
Justin Wong (Post): The victorious and vanquished of Wellington’s local elections (paywalled)
Dave Armstrong (Post): Big win for Little – and many council incumbents (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Ben McNulty’s vote tally on course to break records (paywalled)
Nick James (RNZ): Wayne Guppy on what comes next after being unseated as Upper Hutt’s mayor after 24 years
LOCAL GOVERNMENT - SOUTH ISLAND, CHATHAMS
Hamish McNeilly: Nice day for a red wedding
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): She grew up in a castle and now she’s the mayor: The rise of Sophie Barker
RNZ: Sophie Barker choses Dunedin deputy mayor, meeting with councillors already
Tina Law (Press): What next for Sara Templeton? (paywalled)
Mike Yardley (Press): Too many council wards, far too few local body voters (paywalled)
Max Frethey (Local Democracy Reporting): Nelson Mayor Nick Smith’s priorities after ‘terrible year’
RNZ: Gore district plan delayed until 2026
Anna Sargent (RNZ): Outgoing Buller mayor cries as he talks about risks facing town
RNZ: New mayor for Chatham Islands as Greg Horler unseats incumbent
GENETIC ENGINEERING, CLIMATE CHANGE, PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
Russell Palmer (RNZ): NZ First to withhold support for Gene Tech bill unless major changes are made
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): NZ First joins Labour and the Greens in raising alarm over Gene Tech Bill
Kristy Johnston (RNZ): Scientists fear weaker methane target signals wider retreat from climate action
Anneke Smith (RNZ): New methane target may need to change again, scientist says
Gianina Schwanecke (RNZ): Farmers welcome government’s drop in methane targets
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): The new, lowered methane targets, explained
No Right Turn: Climate Change: The end of bipartisanship
Mountain Tui: Socialising losses, privatising gain - Groundswell win bigly
Maddy Croad and Elsie Williams (Press/Post): Extreme heat: The rising ‘silent killer’ set to strike cities the hardest (paywalled)
ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING, MIGRATION
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Spending more, getting less: What the data shows
Dita De Boni (Post): Spending on essentials strangling household spending: Kiwibank
David Hargreaves (Interest): ‘Different month, same story’ for flagging services sector
Liam Dann (Herald): Migration: Kiwis still leaving New Zealand in record numbers (paywalled)
Greg Ninness (Interest): Population growth from migration now averaging less than 1000 a month
RNZ: Some signs of hope as economy struggles to get traction
EMPLOYMENT
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): How many of NZ’s unemployed can expect to find work?
RNZ: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blames unions for ongoing strike action
Daniel Vernon: Luxon tells unions “theres no bottomless well of taxpayer money” - unless you’re a landlord, big tobacco or big oil.
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): Death of the summer job: A rite of passage slipping out of teenagers’ reach
AGED CARE, END OF LIFE CARE
RNZ: ‘Line them up, hose them down’: What staffing ‘crisis’ means for aged care
Michael Daly (Stuff): ‘Every two years I have to prove I’m still dying’: Reviews from those in the ‘final phase of life’
Kevin Norquay (Post): How New Zealand is failing the terminally ill (paywalled)
ODT: Failing to grasp the nettle (paywalled)
BUSINESS, MIGRANT WORKERS, MODERN SLAVERY
Sharon Brettkelly (Newsroom): When social licence is revoked
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Officials warned supermarket reforms might be criticised for not going far enough (paywalled)
Mandy Te (Interest): Retail NZ urges Government to pause ban on surcharges: ‘those costs won’t disappear, they’ll just be hidden in higher prices for everyone’
Tom Raynel (Herald): Government-backed Foodstuffs trial aims to cut single-use plastic waste (paywalled)
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Concerns raised about ‘tone’ of Financial Markets Authority report on insider trading
Tom Raynel (Herald): Liquidations on track to surpass 2024 total as business failures accelerate (paywalled)
Gregor Thompson (BusinessDesk): Auckland developer collapse leaves $40m in debt, IRD top creditor (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): $20m+ Auckland property failure: Creditors of six companies named (paywalled)
Alka Prasad (Post): Māori business revenues grow in the June quarter, driven by primary sector exports (paywalled)
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Giving it away’: Winston Peters lays into Fonterra over sale of iconic brands
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Winston Peters isn’t wrong, just late
Damien Venuto (Stuff): Insurance policy clauses: The silent drain on New Zealand wealth
Caleb Fotheringham (RNZ): Fiji NGO says govt shares blame for seasonal workers’ misbehaviour overseas
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Thousands of modern slavery victims estimated in New Zealand, report finds
Rebekah Armstrong (Post): Parliament has the tool it needs to outlaw modern slavery - so why doesn’t it? (paywalled)
Kirsten Paterson (NBR): Safe at home? Not directors, not this year (paywalled)
MEDIA
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): TVNZ trial: Judge probes media’s duty to run fair responses
Gavin Ellis: RNZ needs new fighter ace to face Mike Hosking in aerial combat
Shayne Currie (Herald): Metro magazine loses fulltime staff, including editor – publisher’s quest to rebuild finances (paywalled)
Stewart Bowman-Lund (Post): Metro Magazine confirms job cuts, including current editor (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): Journalist ejected from Human Rights Review Tribunal hearing under ‘contempt of court’ claim (paywalled)
RNZ: Morning Report’s Corin Dann appointed RNZ’s new Business Editor
Shayne Currie (Herald): RNZ Morning Report - who will replace Corin Dann? The candidates who could fill breakfast show role (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): TVNZ profit turnaround – CEO Jodi O’Donnell’s bonus revealed (paywalled)
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): TVNZ chief defends filming private homes as channel rebuts ‘animus’ claims
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Listening to the daily news in Māori helped me learn te reo
EDUCATION
Alwyn Poole (Post): A tale of two colleges, and the upside-down ‘equity’ formula (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Stuff): As many as 400 ECE centres could close in next year, group representing ECEs says
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Christopher Luxon, Education Minister Erica Stanford front post-Cabinet press conference on literacy
1News: Minister hails structured literacy for boosting new entrant reading
Anna Whyte (Post): New Wellington charter school signed to open term 1, 2026 (paywalled)
RNZ: Secondary school teachers start seven days of strike action
Cherie Howie (Herald): PPTA confirms nationwide teacher strikes as pay dispute escalates
Jaime Cunningham (Newstalk ZB): Schools struggle to fill learning support roles as shortages deepen
RNZ: School attendance drops sharply in lead up to holidays
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Lights out as Te Pūkenga races its way toward extinction
James Kierstead and Michael Johnston (Plain Sight): VUW vote sets alarm bells ringing over institutional neutrality
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Robots at the gates: uni academic group uneasy on AI use (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Auckland University starts $200m+ giant 13-level tower replacing Law Faculty, Maidment Theatre (paywalled)
Tatiana Gibbs (Press): ‘Big mess’: Phillipstown Community Hub to close after decade of service (paywalled)
CRIME, JUSTICE, POLICE
David Harvey (Herald): Govt shoplifting plan could erode presumption of innocence (paywalled)
Jared Savage (Herald): Six things New Zealand can do to fight organised crime - before it’s too late (paywalled)
Sam Smith (Stuff): Over 100 cars clamped or seized in Government’s trial crackdown on unpaid court fines
1News: Govt to expand vehicle seizure scheme for unpaid court fines
Noel O’Malley (ODT): ‘Unique’ court rulings are in fact a reflection of our shared history
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Police reverse former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s gun vetting changes
PIKE RIVER FILM
Samantha Gee (RNZ): Tears, laughs, jeers at the Greymouth Pike River premiere
Joanne Naish (Press/Post): ‘Emotional’ Pike River movie premiere in Greymouth (paywalled)
Kim Knight (Herald): Dame Jacinda Ardern makes surprise cameo in Pike River film
Gaylene Preston (RNZ): Pike River is a perfect film
Russell Baillie (Listener): Out of the dark: How director Robert Sarkies took on the Pike River mining disaster(paywalled)
Stewart Bowman-Lund (Post): The two ‘ordinary women’ at the centre of the Pike River story (paywalled)
RNZ: Pike River: an emotional ride for lead actors Robyn Malcolm and Melanie Lynskey