NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): National infrastructure plan: Too much new, not enough maintenance
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Infrastructure Commission asks Labour and National to do something unpopular (paywalled)
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): NZ must invest in small health needs before big roads – Infrastructure Plan
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): The government’s infrastructure plan points the blame at the government
Anna Whyte (Interest): Infrastructure plan pushes for user‑pays shift and tough calls on roads
Anneke Smith (RNZ): New Zealand’s first national infrastructure plan unveiled
Henry Cooke (Post): National Infrastructure Plan: NZ challenged to cut transport spending and fund billions more on health and energy (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (BusinessDesk): Chris Bishop says the infrastructure system is broken and the fix is ‘boring’ (paywalled)
Richard Harman: What this election should be about (paywalled)
Harriet Laughton (Post): National Infrastructure Plan: Hospital spending should double (paywalled)
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Government considers $9 Auckland Harbour Bridge toll to help pay for second crossing
Amelia Wade (Post): Government weighs toll for Auckland Harbour Bridge - one proposal is $9 per trip (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (BusinessDesk): Infrastructure Commission national plan urges prioritisation, $9 Auckland harbour toll (paywalled)
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Where NZ is failing on infrastructure, and what its 10 year priorities could be
Brent Edwards (NBR): Next 30 years: NZ’s infrastructure priorities laid out (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT, ELECTION, GOVERNMENT
RNZ: Minister defends bottom trawling, despite poll showing majority of NZers want it banned
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): A Window on transport industry lobbying of the Beehive
Caroline Shaw and Katherine Cullerton (The Conversation): Who has most access to the top? What 5 years of transport ministers’ diaries reveal
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Labour inherits surpluses and gives deficits, National inherits deficits and gives surpluses (paywalled)
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): The rise and rise of NZ First
Liam Rātana (Spinoff): The Māori seats explained: Why they exist and why they’re under threat
Chris Trotter: On the right side (paywalled)
Andrew Dickson: The Opportunity Party and NZ Super
Ian Llewellyn (BusinessDesk): RMA overhaul: Farmers accuse Govt of ‘water tax’ door (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Incoming law change so MSD can claw back welfare payments off ACC clients
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): Secret report warned NZTA had ‘persisting weaknesses’ before driver test bribery scandal broke
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Teaching Council fell short in managing conflicts of interest, investigation finds
Stuff: Teaching Council fell ‘well short’, investigation finds, $1.7m spent with firm run by CEO’s husband
Dita De Boni (Post): Sunny Kaushal: I felt ‘stabbed in the back’ by comments from fellow advisory group members (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Govt to disband environment ministry as part of agency merger
Mountain Tui: Why would New Zealand disestablish the Ministry of Environment?
Anna Whyte (Interest): New Ministry faces uncertain future after Labour casts doubt on the Government’s merger plans
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): ‘Fix that fundamental problem at Oranga Tamariki’
WEATHER AND CLIMATE
Jo Moir (RNZ): Party leaders call for politics to be taken out of planning for weather events
Azaria Howell (Herald): Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says managed retreat an option as nationwide flooding risk map being pieced together
ODT: Editorial – Can extreme become the new normal? (paywalled)
Samuel Sherry (Herald): New Zealand roads at risk of more slips without new strategy, expert warns
Kevin Trenberth (The Conversation): What northern NZ’s wet and sticky summer reveals about our warming atmosphere
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Banks Peninsula sees 10 times monthly rainfall in 48hrs, MetService says
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): The Reality of Everything: why climate change isn’t an isolated problem (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): After yet another summer storm, do we build back better - or build back at all?
Ruby Shaw (ODT): DCC claim ‘BS’: resident (paywalled)
ECONOMY
Justin Hu (1News): Is NZ’s inflation dragon back? Why today’s OCR decision matters
David Hargreaves (Interest): The Reserve Bank’s first Official Cash Rate review for the year won’t see any changes to interest rates - but there will be plenty of other things to watch out for
Andrew Patterson (Newsroom): All eyes on new governor’s benchmark first policy statement
Michael Neilson (BusinessDesk): Does NZ need 20m people? The productivity price of a population spread thin (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Work stopped on lowering tax barriers for migrant investors (paywalled)
Hillmarè Schulze (NBR): Why NZ’s biggest companies are not big enough (paywalled)
Øyvinn Rimer (NBR): China’s growth cooled late 2025; what NZ investors can expect (paywalled)
EMPLOYMENT LAW
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Employment Relations Amendment Bill debated for final time
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Employment bill enables Kmart-style ‘fire-at-will’ without remedy – unions
Henry Cooke (Post): Controversial employment law that could make thousands of workers contractors passes (paywalled)
Julia Gabel (Herald): Government closes in on major employment law changes – here’s what the law does (paywalled)
WELLINGTON SEWAGE DISASTER
Māni Dunlop (Te Ao Māori News): “Rooted in racism” Hostility and disinformation overshadow Moa Point public meeting
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Wellingtonians scream through the shitstorm of Moa Point
RNZ: Moa Point: 3 million litres of untreated wastewater released in 24 hours
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington Water comes in millions under budget as sewage crisis worsens (paywalled)
Ethan Manera (Herald): Moa Point sewage failure: Wellington residents demand answers at fiery meeting
James J Bell, Christopher Cornwall and Ohad Peleg (The Conversation): Beyond the beaches, Wellington’s catastrophic sewage spill could be bad news for coastal ecosystems
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND URBAN PLANNING
Sarah Catherall (Listener): Job losses, seismic threats and now a sewage spill: Why they’re not the end for Wellington (paywalled)
Gaurav Sharma (RNZ): Judge deciding whether to overturn Papatoetoe election ruling
Jonathan Killick (Post): Voided election candidates take case to High Court (paywalled)
Ruby Shaw (ODT): Ong’s movement restricted in council building (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Listener): Smart politics does not equal smart town planning (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Character Coalition flags ‘dirty dozen’ empty sites for housing, clashes with Chris Bishop over intensification plans (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland housing intensification blamed for suburban parking and traffic congestion (paywalled)
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Is Viv Beck dragging down the city centre she’s supposed to be promoting?
MINING
Peter Newport (Crux): The Bendigo mine supporters: Inside their threats of violence, sabotage, bombs and even death
Tim Scott (ODT): Sir Ian calls off visit after opinion piece (paywalled)
CARTOONS