BUDGET 2026 AND PUBLIC SERVICE
Janet Wilson (Post): Nicola Willis has unveiled her audacious plan for the public service, but the real test is to come (paywalled)
Amanda Gillies (RNZ): Public sector cuts ignite election fight
Henry Cooke (Post): Budget 2026: Where might the public service cuts fall? The big and small ministries facing the knife (paywalled)
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Willis sharpens her once-dull scythe for job cuts
Giles Dexter (RNZ): How the government’s savings exercise will work
Henry Cooke (Post): Nicola Willis accuses ‘hysterical’ PSA of ‘misleading’ members over job cuts (paywalled)
Lochlan Lineham (Herald): Finance Minister says HR departments duplicated 39 times across ministries; fears cuts will hurt families
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Willis open to idea of new ministry centralising HR, IT, and other admin work from across the public sector
Gordon Campbell (Scoop): On The Public Service Chainsaw Massacre
Andrew Gunn: Your Questions On Public Service Cuts Answered
Michael Swanson: Govt won’t be splashing the cash but it needs a story
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Barbara Edmonds says Treasury ‘just doing its job’ building cuts into forecast (paywalled)
Sandra Grey (Herald): Public service cuts don’t help, they just hurt people (paywalled)
Cecilia Robinson (Herald): The real opportunity behind public sector reform (paywalled)
Rebecca Jayde (Spinoff): The human cost of governing by spreadsheet
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Minister tells Crown companies to ‘get on the bus’ with cost-cutting
Māni Dunlop (Te Ao News): Public sector overhaul sparks fears for remaining Māori and Treaty-focused roles
Corin Dann (RNZ): Tech companies hopeful about Wellington’s future as public sector cuts loom
Brent Edwards (NBR): A Budget aimed at not losing the election (paywalled)
Ellen O’Dwyer and Sammy Carter (RNZ): ‘Heartless’: Fears Wellington will be ‘ghost town’ after public service cuts
RNZ: Public Services Minister Paul Goldsmith says job cuts needed because previous government hired so many people
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Ministry uncovers 267 different regulators, Seymour urges consolidation
Stuff: NZ’s ‘twisted spaghetti’ of regulation exposed in huge mapping project, Seymour says
Herald: Peter Chrisp departs New Zealand Trade and Enterprise for Department of Conservation
Nick James (Post): NZTE head Peter Chrisp appointed to lead Department of Conservation (paywalled)
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Is the Government counting its chickens before they hatch?
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): What you don’t hear about Singapore’s public service
AI AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE
Richard Prebble: AI Could Make Big Government Even Bigger
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Replacing public servants with AI could come with hidden costs, critics warn
Emily Broadmore (Post): The Government wants AI to cut 8700 jobs, but doesn’t know how to use AI (paywalled)
Gamaliel Ramos (Post): If the robots are coming for the public service, why not the cabinet? (paywalled)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS BUDGET CUTS AND DEFENCE
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Winston Peters denies MFAT bid for more business class flights ever made it to the finance minister
1News: Winston Peters wins again – no cuts for MFAT in new Budget
Jo Moir (RNZ): Winston Peters wins again - no cuts for MFAT in new Budget
Anneke Smith (Post): Foreign Affairs not tightening its belt just yet - Finance Minister (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (Post): Peters slams ‘scrooge-like approach’ to foreign affairs, claims ‘highly active diplomacy’ is making up for budget shortfalls (paywalled)
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): ‘Our voice is not strong’ - Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters on NZ’s place on the global stage
Adam Pearse (Herald): Winston Peters on New Zealand’s response to the ‘Asian century’, declares foreign affairs funding an ‘absolute necessity’
RNZ: Government urged to prioritise retention of trained defence personnel
Thomas Manch (BusinessDesk): The Government’s billion-dollar frigate question (paywalled)
Eugene Doyle (Scoop): New Zealand And Palantir
PARLIAMENT, ELECTION AND GOVERNMENT
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Labour leader Chris Hipkins says New Zealanders don’t ‘really care’ about key detail of party’s NZ Future Fund policy
Caron Copek (Stuff): How much are our MPs paid and who decides how much they get?
Richard Prebble (Herald): Why buying BNZ would be a $24b gamble for taxpayers (paywalled)
Jonathan Ayling (Herald): New Zealand has a better immigration story to tell (paywalled)
Julia Gabel (Herald): Officials warn accommodation supplement changes threaten housing security, ability for families to pay for food, clothing
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Labour’s lack of detail show they’ve learned nothing
Louis Collins (RNZ): The House: Welfare debate shifts from policy to process
Andrew Dickson: The ACT Party’s Daddy Issues
Crux: OIA documents show Government and NZTA worked with MP Mooney to stage manage new bridge information
David Harvey: The Culture of Complaint – An Institutional Problem
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Deepfake bill passes first reading in Parliament
Cassandra Mudgway (The Conversation): NZ is criminalising sexualised deepfakes – banning apps that make them should be next
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): All the ways politicians want to mess with your KiwiSaver
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Jane Wrightson on superannuation, KiwiSaver, and retiring as retirement commissioner
Sam Smith (Stuff): Parliament’s restaurant Bellamys to close to the public after eight years
GENDER BILL
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Bill seeking to legally define the terms ‘man’ and ‘woman’ passes first reading
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): NZ First’s gender bill to be supported by National, ACT
Harriet Laughton (Post): National and ACT to vote through NZ First’s gender bill (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Will a legal definition of gender change how people talk about breastfeeding? David Seymour hopes so
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