RESERVE BANK
Luke Malpass (Post): Central bank independence doesn’t excuse political naïvety (paywalled)
Cameron Bagrie (BusinessDesk): It’s on: The battle for the central bank’s ‘soul’ (paywalled)
Capital Issues: A steep learning curve for RBNZ Governor Breman
Justin Hu (1News): Peters calls out RBNZ boss over backing of Fed chair amid Trump clash
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Winston Peters tells RBNZ governor Anna Breman to ‘stay in her New Zealand lane’
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Winston Peters takes aim at Reserve Bank Governor Anna Breman for comments on US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Peters criticises RBNZ’s Breman for joining other central bankers in backing Trump targeted US Fed Chairman
Dita De Boni and Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Winston Peters tells RBNZ governor to ‘stay in her lane’ over supporting US Fed boss Jerome Powell (paywalled)
Andy Macdonald (BusinessDesk): Winston Peters tells RBNZ Governor Anna Breman to ‘stay in her lane’ over Fed’s Powell
Russell Palmer (RNZ): RBNZ governor signs letter of support for US Fed boss Jerome Powell
PARLIAMENT, GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC SERVICE
Henry Cooke (Post): Ranked: The best places to work (and get paid) in the public service (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Post): Contractors and consultants: Which agencies dominate spending (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Looking forward to an election year of political posturing (paywalled)
Richard Prebble (Herald): Why this election will be unlike any other (paywalled)
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): The bumper year ahead in politics: your handy guide to what’s happening when
Samuel Sherry (Herald): Winston Peters on pre-Christmas operation, health and plans for 2026
RNZ: Winston Peters fully recovered from pre-Christmas operation
Annika Naschitzki (Newsroom): Stuck on repeat: why public service restructuring goes wrong
Ethan Manera (Herald): Police called in over MSD Disability Support Services post-Christmas party incident
Tony Wall (Stuff): Police probed Government staffer’s ‘unacceptable behaviour’ after Christmas party
MANAGE MY HEALTH SCANDAL, CYBER SECURITY
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Manage My Health ignored warning about lax security system - cyber-security expert
Tom Hunt (Post): Manage My Health tells people they were hacked ‒ some weren’t (paywalled)
Joanne Naish (Press): Medical records still on Manage My Health despite patient moving providers a year ago (paywalled)
Karanama Ruru (Stuff): What are companies’ responsibilities in notifying people of a data breach?
Dan Satherley (RNZ): Manage My Health data breach: A timeline of what happened, and everything we know so far
Emma Gleason (Spinoff): Everything you need to know about the Manage My Health hack attack
Megan Wilson (Bay of Plenty Times): ManageMyHealth cyber attack: Tauranga patient fears identity theft
Guy Williams (ODT): Medical centre pulling plug on hacked health portal (paywalled)
Angus James: When Institutions Fail, Competence Matters More Than Contrition
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT, ECONOMY
RNZ: Employee confidence still in the negative
Michael Sergel (Newstalk ZB): Election 2026: Business leaders upbeat about election year
Michael Barnett (Herald): Economic green shoots are there, you just have to look for them (paywalled)
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): Unions call for workers’ right to ignore their bosses after hours
Herald Editorial: Hybrid models and four-day weeks can boost productivity and morale (paywalled)
Dita De Boni (Post): Rough deals for some migrant workers (paywalled)
Tom Raynel (Herald): Liquidations hit 15-year high as 2025 proves brutal for struggling firms (paywalled)
Jamie Gray (Herald): Unemployment may have peaked at 5.3% - Westpac survey
Herald: The Co-operative Bank boss Mark Wilkshire says 2026 will be tight, with margins under pressure but the housing market recovering (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Ryman Healthcare one of many companies snagged by $237m holiday pay problem (paywalled)
Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo (Spinoff): How the pay equity ‘reset’ erased years of progress for Pacific communities
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Is New Zealand becoming a big-box nation?
Shilpy Arora Gaikwad (Stuff): Why pressing fill at some petrol pumps can lock up hundreds of dollars
Jake Kenny (Stuff): $45m in limbo: Elderly investors put millions into firm now under investigation
Liz McDonald (Press): Collapsed research firm owes millions (paywalled)
HEALTH
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Why are teeth left out of public healthcare?
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Mental health callouts: Police ‘wiping their hands’ - union
Te Mahurangi Teinakore (Te Ao Māori News): Government claims mental health staffing crisis is easing - but patients still waiting
Katie Todd and Keiller MacDuff (RNZ): Public Service Association says southern hospitals experienced major IT outage
RNZ: Majority of emergency department nurses experienced abuse over holiday season, survey says
Māni Dunlop (Te Ao Māori News): Kaupapa Māori early intervention delivering better outcomes in Te Tau Ihu
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Rates cap will save households a can of baked beans
Peter Newport (Crux): DQ defends using Canadian consultants to define “Queenstown’s Identity.”
Fiona Ellis (Waikato Times): Expense claims revealed: Travel perks on the Hamilton City Council tab (paywalled)
Sue Teodoro (Local Democracy Reporting): Palliser bylaw a ‘clear example’ of key finding on public access rights
Tina Law (Press): Murder mysteries, catering and tutoring: Christchurch city councillors’ side hustles revealed (paywalled)
ENERGY
RNZ: Tougher fines for power companies that play unfair a ‘credible deterrent’ - minister
NBR: Law change designed to strengthen electricity market (paywalled)
John Riddell: Subsidies for renewable electricity generation increase our electricity bills
ENVIRONMENT, CONSERVATION
Aaron Smale (Listener): As Nicola Willis struggles to balance the books, the environment pays the price (paywalled)
RNZ: Small NZ charity takes big swing at US government in bid to protect endangered dolphins
Brett Kerr-Laurie (Press): Company unlawfully moved 250,000kg of mussels from ‘infected’ zone to global supplier (paywalled)
Al Williams (Open Justice Reporting): Civil Defence boss Kumeroa Tuhaka caught with undersize pāua in protected Akaroa area
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Trade Minister Todd McClay tells NZ officials in US to monitor situation after Donald Trump’s Iran tariff warning for businesses
Nick James (RNZ): Ministry of Defence seeks advice for plan to have drones scour Pacific
Jonathan Ayling (Herald): Courage, dignity on display as Iranians push for change (paywalled)
DIGITAL HARM
Sam Smith (Stuff): NZ yet to act on Grok, as others ban it over sexualised deepfakes
ODT Editorial: Digital harm approach wanting (paywalled)
INFRASTRUCTURE, BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
Thomas Manch (BusinessDesk): Government direction on infrastructure takes effect (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (BusinessDesk): Report forecasts $10b construction activity climb by 2030 (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): New residential consents up 7% annually, multi-unit dwellings lead the charge (paywalled)
EDUCATION
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): Some of New Zealand’s most common languages aren’t taught formally. Why?
Brett Kerr-Laurie (Press): UC Students’ Association faces $200k fines for mass food poisoning (paywalled)
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Education ministry failure meant murdered children’s disappearance went unnoticed for years
POLICE
Katie Ham (Post): Seventeen police staff under investigation as a result of Jevon McSkimming device audit (paywalled)
Katie Ham (Post): Pressure remains on police leadership as further Jevon McSkimming findings loom
OTHER
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Influencers and images of money to be banned in online gambling adverts
André Chumko (Post): Labour commits to introducing levy for streaming giants, National still coy (paywalled)
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Hosking, Bridge, O’Brien, Campbell: Who will win the battle for breakfast?
Virginia Fallon (Post): A bull broke free, and so did the truth (paywalled)
John Weekes (Herald): Former financial adviser David McEwen sends message from Lithuania, tells court he has no money (paywalled)
Sandeeka Mannakkara (Newsroom): The switch from flood relief to recovery is where it can unravel
RNZ: New Zealand passport drops down global power rankings
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): UK says dual NZ nationals told of passport change in good time
Deborah Morris (Post): House prices starting to rise except in Wellington (paywalled)
Rod McNaughton (Newsroom): If you want to understand our problems, mind the gaps
NBR: New CEO for Federated Farmers (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On Frank Gehry’s Lost Vision For Te Papa
While I am no friend of Donald Trump or, since recent times, Winston Peters, I have to admit that Peters is correct on this point. New Zealand's central banker should not be interfering in the affairs of any other central bank, and neither should other central bankers interfere in New Zealand (which they have traditionally regarded as their rightful prerogative).
However, regardless of what the Governor of the Reserve bank has done (side with her Nordic kith and kin, which is understandable, and with New Zealand's traditional allies Canada, Australia and the UK, which would normally be unobjectionable to those in government) it is interesting that Winston Peters has once again decided to follow the lawless, manic and dangerous path of Donald Trump which can only end in catastrophe for the US and its principal allies, including New Zealand.