GOVERNMENT
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): An antisocial blowback on Luxon’s social media
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Luxon stokes his policy bonfire
Luke Malpass (Post): How will the Keith Richards of New Zealand politics fare? (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): The summer Christopher Luxon would rather forget (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): Why it’s been a rough week for Chris Bishop and National (paywalled)
Duncan Garner (Listener): Could Luxon’s slide cost Nicola Willis her job? (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT, ELECTION, CONSTITUTION
Damien Grant (Stuff): Let’s talk about te Pāti Māori. A political movement based on race
Henry Cooke (Post): Exclusions spark tension as Greens tighten list rules (paywalled)
Ani O’Brien: Sewage, scrutiny, and the politics of accountability
Chris Trotter (Law News): The cost of playing it safe: polls predict a hung Parliament
Brian Easton: New Zealand First’s Economics
Adam Pearse (Herald): Ex-Prince Andrew arrest: The law change New Zealand would make if the line of succession changed (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Trevor Mallard interview: Ireland lessons, Winston Peters’ decision and what’s next (paywalled)
Sam Stubbs (Sunday Star Times): Who I’m voting for, and why (paywalled)
RNZ: National to campaign on review of ‘controversial’ Hauraki Gulf commercial fishing rules
HOUSING AND AUCKLAND INTENSIFICATION
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): Voters back intensification - just not in their backyard (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Auckland’s Nimbys shouldn’t be vilified for speaking out (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): Housing reform in the too-hard basket, and the base cheers (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): A crazy nightmare: what housing developers feel about politicians’ flip-flopping (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): Govt considers requiring car parks in new developments again (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT STOPS USING X
Henry Cooke (Post): Parliament departs from X, formerly Twitter, over Grok’s deepfake and abuse imagery (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Official Conscience and an Official’s Conscience (paywalled)
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): NZ Parliament announces it will no longer post on X
INTEGRITY ISSUES
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): The Expensive farce of the retail crime advisory group
Charlie Mitchell (Post): The pressure campaign that sank a phantom water tax (paywalled)
The Standard: Should job hiring be fair and transparent?
POLICE AND JEVON MCSKIMMING
Tom Day (1News): Minister’s electorate office blocked emails from McSkimming complainant
Amelia Wade (Post): Behind the Beehive’s handling of the Jevon McSkimming scandal: who knew what when? (paywalled)
Katie Ham (Post): Jevon McSkimming scandal: Advocate calls for removal of another member of police executive (paywalled)
Phil Pennington (RNZ): More than half of police force considering quitting - union survey
WELLINGTON SEWAGE DISASTER
Julie Jacobson (Post): Watery tale of sewage spills, leaks and an entity apparently flush with money (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington’s mysterious blogger: Would the real Peter Bassett please stand up? (paywalled)
John Braddock (World Socialist Website): The global company Veolia at the heart of NZ’s wastewater disaster
Michael Johnston (NZ Initiative): A Question of priorities
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Andrea Vance (Post): ‘Poorly controlled’ and risky: Wellington City Council’s contract chaos (paywalled)
Wayne Brown (Sunday Star Times): No need for world-class solutions - just faster and affordable (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Post): Back-to-back exits shake Chatham Islands council (paywalled)
Mathew Nash (Herald): Stuart Crosby tops Bay of Plenty Regional Council election spending
Jonathan Killick (Post): Chris Bishop expected to pull back on controversial intensification legislation (paywalled)
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Why Wellington should no longer be the capital of New Zealand
Grant Miller (ODT): ‘Extremely concerned’ about conduct (paywalled)
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
RNZ: Uncertainty likely to remain following US Supreme Court tariff ruling, Trade Minister says
1News: NZ warns of ‘considerable uncertainty’ after US tariff ruling
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Sunday Star Times): Work continues to close loophole letting Russian oil be refined abroad and enter NZ (paywalled)
Coco Lance (RNZ): Is New Zealand living up to the ‘Pacific family’ rhetoric on climate-related migration?
Graye Shattkey (ODT): Strategic independence is not free — but quiet dependence costs more (paywalled)
Jonathan Ayling (Herald): Our public square is not for sale (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): British Cabinet Minister flies to NZ after Prime Minister Keir Starmer nearly rolled (paywalled)
Kate McVicar and Hamish McNicol (NBR): Considerable uncertainty remains for US exporters, McClay says (paywalled)
WEATHER, DISASTERS AND CLIMATE
Nikki Macdonald (Post): When emergencies become the new normal (paywalled)
Kevin Norquay (Sunday Star Times): New Zealand: top-10 for disasters, top-10 for coping (paywalled)
RNZ: A state of emergency, again and again and again
Michael Stiassny (Newsroom): We must trade climate statements for real progress – outgoing Tower chair
CULTURE WARS
David Fisher (Herald): Winston Peters and David Seymour upset over Army’s bicultural plan – and how Judith Collins responded (paywalled)
Bethan Greener (Post): Is a little Māori culture really too much for our Army warriors? (paywalled)
Lianne Dalziel (Newsroom): NZ First and Act now in open competition using Māori as election pawns
Geoff Fischer: Nga paepae Maori – Maori seats and wards
ECONOMY
Christina Leung and Ting Huang (Sunday Star Times): Is Auckland’s economy improving? (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Why does talking about economic recovery make some people so angry? (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Politicians can’t be trusted with our debt trajectory, NZ needs a fiscal watchdog (paywalled)
DRUGS AND ALCOHOL
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): Easier to find and cheaper to buy: What’s behind the rising popularity of cocaine? (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell and Annemarie Quill (Stuff): A little-known law can stop RSAs and sports clubs from selling booze - but that’s changing
Ben Tomsett (Herald): Inside Invercargill’s alcohol monopoly and the power of the licensing trust (paywalled)
CHRISTCHURCH
Michael Wright (Post): The Gerry Brownlee interview: The ‘appalling’ Press newspaper and other quake memories (paywalled)
Cate Macintosh (Press): ‘Not achieved’: Schools still in the rebuild trenches 15 years since the quakes (paywalled)
Sinead Gill (Press): Earthquake widower calls on Attorney General to meet over CTV building (paywalled)
Blayne Slabbert (Press): The $3b plan to stop Canterbury being isolated by bridge failures (paywalled)
ENERGY
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Seabed miner’s rejection breathes new life into offshore wind
Alexandra Vranyac-Wheeler (Post): LNG: Give the consumer power, not gas (paywalled)
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Confusion over who is meant to deal with Wellington’s ongoing power cuts
CARTOONS