ECONOMY, OCR, COST OF LIVING
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The secret diary of .. Nicola Willis
Luke Malpass (Post): It’s now Christopher Luxon’s cost-of-living crisis (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): The economy isn’t riding to the Government’s rescue (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): Merchants of misery? Or just a reality check for National (paywalled)
Press Editorial (Post): Looking on the bright side? (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): The Reserve Bank has bought some time for the Government (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Beehive must be nervous as economy continues to flounder (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Will homeowners get anything from the OCR cut?
David Long (Stuff): Luxon talks up recovery as big businesses post losses and cut jobs
Mandy Te (Interest): The drums for fiscal stimulus keep on banging as the Government leaves it to RBNZ monetary policy to stimulate the economy
Raphael Franks (Herald): Gloomy week for New Zealand’s economy: Company collapses, drop in profits reflect lack of spending
BANKS
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Banking inquiry acknowledges it's no silver bullet for competition
Rob Stock (Post): Big banks victors in banking inquiry: Labour (paywalled)
Rob Stock and Luke Malpass (Post): Parliament’s banking inquiry delivers ‘useful but timid’ report (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Banking competition inquiry concludes: MPs struggle to identify silver bullet solutions (paywalled)
RNZ: Banking report confirms stable market controlled by 'big four' - analyst
Neil Sands (Law News): Aussie-owned banks reap higher profits than international peers, select committee says it’s up to ‘government agencies’ to lower barriers to entry
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Parliament committee asks RBNZ to halt bank capital increases 'immediately’
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Stop raising bank capital ratios now: select committee on banking competition (paywalled)
Kate Green (RNZ): Farmers respond to government's report into banking competition
Michael Daly (Stuff): Kiwibank is tempering profits of the Australian-owned big four banks, boss says
Rob Stock (Post): Kiwibank after-tax profit slips but bank staying ‘optimistic’ (paywalled)
DEFENCE, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, NATIONAL SECURITY
Bridie Witton (Stuff): ‘Unsubstantiated smears’: World power denounces New Zealand spy agency ‘Cold War’ report
1News: 'It’s not personal': What White House told NZ’s trade envoy on tariffs
Anneke Smith (RNZ): US President Donald Trump not budging on trade tariff - PM Christopher Luxon
Adam Pearse (Herald): Trade Minister Todd McClay confirms NZ’s concerns over US tariffs fall on deaf ears
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Winston Peters talks defence, trade with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Bridie Witton (Stuff): ‘Unsubstantiated smears’: World power denounces New Zealand spy agency ‘Cold War’ report
Agence France-Presse: Documents show New Zealand unease over Chinese warships in South Pacific
Herald: How NZ’s new defence helicopters will detect and target undersea threats
RNZ: Air Force chief says Boeing 757 replacements absolutely necessary
Peter Dunne: Trevor Mallard’s sacking act of political vengeance by Foreign Minister but he should never have been appointed to a diplomatic post in the first place
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu namechecks New Zealand among ‘shameful’ Western countries
Sam Smith (Stuff): Israel PM says New Zealand has ‘buckled’ on question of Palestinian statehood
RNZ: Now, now, now': Save the Children NZ urges end to Gaza blockade
Te Ahipourewa Forbes (1News): Arab and Jewish voices in NZ: 'We can live together very well'
RNZ: NZ joins calls for urgent, independent foreign media access to Gaza
RNZ: NZ Post suspends deliveries to the US as Trump's tariffs loom
Felix Walton (RNZ): Small business at risk of closure after NZ Post suspends shipping to US
HOUSING, BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
Chris Tobin (Press/Post): NZ’s fall from admired housing provider to a crisis of homelessness (paywalled)
Rod Carr (Post): Housing affordability: a crisis of our own making (paywalled)
RNZ: The struggle to solve Māori youth homelessness
Miriam Bell (Post): Building consent reforms must include strong consumer safety net: expert (paywalled)
Mike Mather (Waikato Times): Rush for retirement village projects to be placed on Government’s Fast-track (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Why I called Auckland’s housing slump a crash... it will take years to recover (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): The home renovation boom: Tradies say demand ‘unheard of’ (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT, TĀMAKI MAKAURAU BY-ELECTION
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Neither Luxon nor Hipkins is popular with the public – that’s a problem
Amelia Wade (Sunday Star Times): No trust, no tax plan, no clear allies: Labour’s long road back (paywalled)
Josie Pagani (Post): ‘Public opinion is like concrete: malleable at first, then hard’ (paywalled)
Ryan Ward: Stop calling the Greens radical
No Right Turn: Open Government: Business-as-usual
Brent Edwards (NBR): Strikes, Reserve Bank, Labour policy, Mallard recall and Ukraine (paywalled)
Phil Smith (RNZ): Lies, damn lies and parliamentary debate
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Watching via video link as Stephenson dices with danger (paywalled)
Madeleine Chapman (Spinoff): The Weekend: Has the 2026 election campaign already started?
Mihingarangi Forbes (RNZ): Mata: Peeni Henare and Oriini Kaipara on the battle for Tāmaki Makaurau
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): ‘I’m honest’: Oriini Kaipara wants to be a different kind of politician (paywalled)
ENVIRONMENT, PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, CONSERVATION
Anne Salmond (Newsroom): Who is this Government working for?
Giles Dexter RNZ): Gene technology bill delayed again; PM says 'it's complicated'
Jonathan Leask (Local Democracy Reporting): Ashburton mayor wants ‘cost-effective’ wildlife management for second bridge
RNZ: Greenpeace protesters arrested after boarding fishing vessel in Nelson
Angus Kebbell (Interest): Balancing freshwater, farming and 'fair’ rules
Te Karere: Taranaki Maunga finds its human voices
HEALTH
Samantha Hayes (Stuff): Persistent shorter life expectancies for Māori, Pasifika ‘a disaster for all of us’
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Public health group report calls for wealth tax, cross-party focus on wellbeing
Max Rashbrooke (Post): Why all of us drinking less might help reduce hazardous consumption (paywalled)
RNZ: Westport residents waiting up to six weeks for dental appointments to see the same dentist
Juliet Speedy (Stuff): ‘Sixteen rivers, surf, beer’: Town makes quirky plea for dentist
James Pocock (Herald): Report finds Tairāwhiti has the highest rate of premature male death (paywalled)
Māni Dunlop (Te Ao Māori News): Historic challenge over Māori Health Authority disestablishment heads to court
Isaac Davison (Stuff): She’s endured nine surgeries after a damaging procedure – now it may be offered again
ENERGY
Richard Meade (The Conversation): An attempt to lower NZ electricity prices could end up doing the opposite – here’s why
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Gas 'crisis' warning as MBIE warns again supply falling faster than expected
Eric Frykberg (Interest): Bad news for gas industry
Ella Jenkins (ODT): Solar hearing adjourned (paywalled)
Steve Hepburn (ODT): ‘Sick to their stomachs’ over planned wind farm (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Blayne Slabbert (Press/Post): How councils can make or break your local economy (paywalled)
Charlie Mitchell (Press/Post): A mayor confronts the ‘ungodly’ price of three waters reform (paywalled)
Alexa Cook (RNZ): Hawke's Bay residents to save hundreds of dollars after water bill blunder fix
Thomas Manch (Post): Central Hawke’s Bay revises water costs from $7000 per home to $4890 (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Why are we planning for 2 million homes? (paywalled)
Mary Afemata (Local Democracy Reporting): South Auckland leaders push for fair share of Fix It Finish Fund
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington mayoral candidates on homes and homeless (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Report card: How our city’s councillors shaped up (paywalled)
NBR: Wayne Eagleson to rejoin Wellington Airport’s board (paywalled)
Ethan Manera (Herald): Sir Ashley Bloomfield backs Ken Laban for Hutt City mayor
Liu Chen (RNZ): The Asian candidates contesting mayoral seats in local elections
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Binding poll on Māori ward needs buy-in
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘It saves millions of dollars’: Council changes tack on HQ
Zita Campbell (Local Democracy Reporting): Ngāti Oneone land return investigation plan approved by Gisborne council
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Council chair speeds more than 100 times in work car
MEDIA
Shayne Currie (Herald): ‘Hurtful’, ‘distressing’ - some RNZ staff fuming over scathing internal review - RNZ responds (paywalled)
Hayden Donnell and Corey Fuimaono (RNZ): Mediawatch: AI and a last ditch bid for media to claw back online revenue
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): How did RNZ not know about this already?
Colin Peacock and Hayden Donnell (RNZ): Mediawatch: Image problems - the ethics of stock photos
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): NZME mulls whether to sell, buy or hold its property asset
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): Paddy Gower’s TV comeback and the hunt for a fugitive father
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Stuff staff vote to strike over collective agreement
Varsha Anjali (Herald): Should you quit Spotify, Substack? Why some Kiwis are leaving the popular platforms
Herald: Newstalk ZB and Mike Hosking reign supreme in latest GfK commercial radio survey
A large section of the commentariat assumes that the economy is behaving differently because the government is not using its economic levers in the time-honored ways.
It may be true that the government is doing things differently. It is not necessarily true that to revert to the old ways would change the outcome.
The New Zealand economy is behaving differently. To put it another way, a structural change is taking place.
Residential property prices have slipped, and show no inclination to rise. For an economy which is "a property market with bits tacked on" in Bernard Hickey's memorable albeit rather exaggerated phrase, that is a crucial about turn. It is quite possible that this marks the end point of the rising residential property market, a development which Chris Bishop welcomes (after all it makes sense to welcome an uninvited guest who cannot be turned away from the door) while the rest of the political establishment stands aside dumbstruck.
However neither Bishop nor anyone else have a plan to deal with the structural change in the New Zealand economy which is being manifest in the property market. Military spending is being escalated at a rate which suggests either that there is no problem ("the money will be there") or that there is no solution ("everything is coming apart, so we forget about trying to maintain a coherent first world society and build an enhanced military force as the solution to everything").
Fonterra's abandonment of value added processing indicates the same state of mind, and almost overnight the commentariat which had been trained to tell us that added value was the only way forward for the New Zealand economy are now telling us that such value adding operations are like an albatross about the economy's neck.
So over the next few years look forward to a flat property market, stalling GDP, dithering politicians, investors bailing from agricultural and forestry processing operations, small and medium service industries failing, and media commentators describing every self-administered blow to the economy as well considered and a "good thing in the long run".