GOVERNMENT
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Christopher Luxon parties as Budget nears (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): Budget 2026: A speech from the prime minister National thought it elected (paywalled)
Amelia Wade (Post): Christopher Luxon asks, why risk it? Chris Hipkins asks, why trust it? (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): A Budget beyond the fuel crisis starts to take shape (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Post): NZTA probe reveals $5m in disputed costs and invoice concerns on roading project (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Minister trying to halt National MP’s social media ban bill - but it’s not her call
Henry Cooke (Post): How David Seymour’s Regulatory Standards Act will change what public servants write and what public sees (paywalled)
NBR: Government issues advice to its agencies over good regulation (paywalled)
Dita De Boni (Post): ‘Where the bloody hell are you - come over’, Nicola Willis tells Aussies angry about CGT (paywalled)
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Haere rā to Crusher, hello to old scandals
Brent Edwards (NBR): Budget restraint, the immigration debate, climate change (paywalled)
Rachael Judge (BusinessDesk): Are information requests getting out of control? (paywalled)
André Chumko (Post): Twenty more jobs to go at Te Papa as restructuring continues (paywalled)
Kate Rickard (Herald): ‘Unaffordable’ network: DoC faces 2300 closures and $37m annual shortfall
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Briefing says defence chief executives doing more to educate public
Phil Pennington (RNZ): NZDF still drafting AI directive months after rolling out tech
DEMOCRACY AND ELECTIONS
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): The Regulator has confirmed the NZ economy is rigged
Anne Salmond (Newsroom): Democracy for sale
Max Rashbrooke (Post): A shift in voting power and how to give young voters hope (paywalled)
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): Hone Harawira set to pursue return to Parliament
Ricardo Simich (Herald): Whangārei National candidate Lloyd Budd has the backing of Sir John Key and Paula Bennett (paywalled)
Josie Pagani (Post): What’s the big idea? Getting to the point in Māori politics (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The secret diary of .. opinion polls
Kiah Radcliffe (Post): How AI ‘slop’ is threatening the integrity of the upcoming general election (paywalled)
IDEA: A trip that got decision-makers thinking about deeper democracy (paywalled)
Peter Williams: STV time is up
Nigel Haworth (The Standard): Reformism or bust?: Making the best of a bleak future
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Chris Hipkins is deluded
Ellen Curnow (Newsroom): The West Coast pub where politics is messy, argumentative and stubbornly alive
TREATY OF WAITANGI
Julia Gabel (Herald): Ngāi Tahu preparing to renegotiate parts of Treaty settlement amid major conservation law reforms
Adam Pearse (Herald): Govt agrees to change or scrap Treaty of Waitangi references in 19 laws
Stuff: Government confirms changes to Treaty clauses as Waitangi Tribunal finds ‘reckless’ breach
Hanna McCallum (Newsroom): Waitangi Tribunal urges halt on Treaty clause changes
Māni Dunlop (Te Ao News): ‘Major breach’: Tribunal says education Treaty overhaul ‘may be worse’ than Treaty Principles Bill
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira and Pokere Paewai (RNZ): Government targets 19 pieces of legislation for Waitangi Treaty amendments
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira and Pokere Paewai (RNZ): Waitangi Tribunal calls for immediate halt to changes to education legislation affecting Treaty
MĀORI POLITICS
Whatitiri Te Wake (Te Ao News): “Shocking display of arrogance by Minister Shane Jones” — Ngāti Ruanui lodge complaint with Speaker
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Ngāti Ruanui demands apology for ‘shameful’ Shane Jones comments
Liam Rātana (Spinoff): ‘Kei hea te tika?’: Hūhana Lyndon accuses Waitangi Tribunal of silencing wāhine Māori
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