ELECTION 2026 AND PARTY POLITICS
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): What Te Pāti Māori is doing is actually just bloody clever (paywalled)
Gareth Morgan (Newsroom): Making MMP work means getting rid of the Prime Minister
Oliver Hartwich (Sunday Star Times): If I were PM: Fix the machine before the policies (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): Running the rule over fiscal holes (paywalled)
Gaurav Sharma (RNZ): How immigration has been used to win votes in New Zealand elections
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): AI? No can do. NZ politics have become myopic
RNZ: Protesters interrupt ACT’s South Island campaign launch
Hora Kairangi Nicholas (Te Ao News): Mike Davidson: Greens give voters a different choice
Brent Edwards (NBR): Apology, MMP referendum, small businesses and ignoring retailers (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Paid parental leave, TOP, Winston Peters’ ‘war on woke’ (paywalled)
Virginia Fallon (Sunday Star Times): What to ask the prime minister over dinner when politics is off the table (paywalled)
Kevin Norquay (Sunday Star Times): Finally, proof I’m not mad: PM calls Molesworth St dangerous (paywalled)
PUBLIC SERVICE AND STATE SECTOR
Andrew Ketels (Herald): Luxon will argue he had no mandate for radical public sector reform. But it may be too late (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Concerns as Public Service Commissioner given final say on health sector bargaining
Matthew Tukaki (Waatea News): Parade Standoff Deepens: PSA Demands Public Service Commission Withdraw Guidance
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Polytechs resisting attempts to keep single collective agreement for sector, union says
FAST-TRACK, RMA AND PLANNING REFORM
Matthew Hooton (Sunday Star Times): Fast-track worse than a failure (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): ‘It is not an answer, it is a disaster’: Has the tide turned on fast-track? (paywalled)
Matthew Tukaki (Waatea News): Last-Minute RMA Changes Spark Warning of Environmental Destruction
INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE HARBOUR CROSSING
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Auckland’s second harbour crossing needs a clear purpose before a big bill (paywalled)
Herald: Meola Reef harbour crossing: Auckland councillors blast proposed $1m study
Sam Smith (Stuff): Blueprints and broken promises: The long, failed quests to cross the Waitematā again
Shamubeel Eaqub (Herald): New Zealand infrastructure: Stop-start projects cost $11.8b since 2000 (paywalled)
Sarah Sinclair (Herald): Infrastructure maintenance must come before new projects (paywalled)
Cameron Bagrie (Herald): New Zealand infrastructure spending: High costs but poor value (paywalled)
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): Auckland Airport warns Commerce Commission rules risk undermining investment
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