FOREIGN AFFAIRS - MIDDLE EAST
Lillian Hanly (RNZ):Calls for government to denounce United States attack on Iran
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Front Page: Iran-Israel conflict: Why NZ is being urged to push for UN Security Council reform
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): How has New Zealand responded to the escalating conflict in the Middle East?
Audrey Young (Herald): New Zealand hints at support for US over Iran (paywalled)
Adam Pearse (Herald): US ‘acting in collective self-defence’ claim in New Zealand’s response to bombings – Winston Peters
RNZ: US-Iran conflict 'extremely worrying', NZ backs diplomacy - Winston Peters
Christina Persico (RNZ): NZ may help Pacific Islanders in the Middle East 'where feasible' says Peters spokesperson
Gordon Campbell: On Trump’s Anti-Bomb Bombing Campaign
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Get the Kiwis out of Iran and Israel - and leave it at that
Kelly Dennett (Post): More than 200 Kiwis register with MFAT as being in Israel, Iran (paywalled)
RNZ: How would an escalation in conflict in the Middle East impact New Zealand
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Kiwi weapons inspector warns of the same mistakes, in Iran
Kelly Dennett and Juliet Speedy (Post): Defence Force evacuation help on way to Kiwis in conflict zone (paywalled)
1News: NZ deploys aircraft to assist evacuations after US strikes on Iran
RNZ: Petrol price 'double whammy' looming, economists say
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): What US attacks on Iran mean for KiwiSaver, petrol prices
Roeland van den Bergh (Post): Brace for 30c a litre petrol price rise as Iran threatens closure of Strait of Hormuz (paywalled)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Jamie Tahana (RNZ): Christopher Luxon arrives for 'fork in the road moment' at NATO
Thomas Manch (Post): Luxon plays it close as Trump-focused Nato summit looms (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Luxon not seeking meeting with Trump at Nato
Thomas Manch (Post): Trump seeking meeting with Luxon and other IP4 nations at Nato ‒ reports (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Post): Luxon follows his great-grandfather's footsteps through Belgium (paywalled)
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Luxon starts Europe trip remembering NZ's past WWI sacrifice
Mike Hall: Colonial bullying of Cook Islands shows hypocrisy of NZ's sub-imperial henchmen
1News: Russia's 'shadow fleet' targeted in fresh NZ sanctions
REGULATORY STANDARDS BILL
Giles Dexter (RNZ): David Seymour defends social media posts accusing Regulatory Standards opponents of 'derangement syndrome'
Tom Hunt (Post): Tory Whanau calls for David Seymour council ‘harassment’ investigation (paywalled)
Stuff: Wellington mayor accuses Seymour of online harassment campaign against academics
Public Health Communication Centre: Submission: Regulatory Standards Bill
No Right Turn: A parliamentary purpose?
Ganesh Ahirao: Solemn, compelling, and overwhelming case to discard RSB in its entirety
PARLIAMENT, POLLING
Chris Trotter (Interest): The politics, and politicians, of nostalgia
Cameron Bagrie (BusinessDesk): The souring mood of the nation (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): David Seymour’s first rodeo: how did he go? (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): Brooke v Chlöe: Two visions of Auckland from two very different local MPs (paywalled)
Isaac Davison (Herald): Government House in Auckland may axe jobs in cost-cutting proposal (paywalled)
Tom Peters (World Socialists): A Different Kind of Power whitewashes Jacinda Ardern’s right-wing, pro-imperialist government
OVERSEAS INVESTMENT, WEALTH VISAS
RNZ: Overseas investment decisions made twice as fast after directive from David Seymour
RNZ: Nearly 200 people apply for 'golden visas' in 3 months
Eva Corlett (Guardian): Rich Americans flock to apply for New Zealand’s ‘golden visas’ after rules relaxed
Mandy Te (Interest): New Zealand open to business with new 'golden' visa
MĀORI-CROWN RELATIONS
Julia Gabel (Herald): NZ First drafting bill to require only one Ngāpuhi settlement
Whatitiri Te Wake, Tumamao Harawira, Māni Dunlop (Te Ao Māori News): Shane Jones drafting bill for his own iwi to lock in single Ngāpuhi settlement
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Cabinet frets over funding for Māori foreshore claims
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Adam Pearse (Herald): PM Christopher Luxon open to scrapping regional councils amid RMA reform
Post: PM says Government should ‘explore’ disestablishing regional councils (paywalled)
Tina Law (Press): Christchurch mayor backs Govt exploring rates caps and scrapping regional councils (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Public losing faith in local councils’ value and sustainability, poll finds
ODT Editorial: Redefining localism (paywalled)
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): The Government’s into local decision-making - when it suits
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The move of the week from the Govt
Marika Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Explainer: Local elections - what they are, when they are and how they work
Harriet Laughton (Post): Fears for the would-be female mayors (paywalled)
Robin Martin (RNZ): New Plymouth ponders first-ever public-private partnership for inner-city revamp
Local Aotearoa: Wellington, Upper Hutt thumb noses at Ombudsman's transparency expectations
Tom Hunt (Post): Who saved what? Wellington council budget votes revealed (paywalled)
Post: Campaign countdown: The week that was in Wellington’s council (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington set to adopt $12-a-week rates rise as Crown observer’s time comes to end
Ethan Manera (Herald): Wellington public toilets cost $2.3 million, transform into light show at night
Tom Hunt (Post): Council to find spaces for artists to help put the creative back into the capital (paywalled)
Justin Wong (Post): Upper Hutt council could spend $80,000 hunting mall-deal leaker
1News: Auckland council spending $30,000 a year on meeting refreshments
Mary Afemata (RNZ): Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown rejects dog task force amid calls from residents
RNZ: Golf NZ rejects council plan to halve Takapuna course for use as flood catchment
Peter Newport (Crux): Major 25% investor and partner pulls out of QLDC's Lakeview project
Steve Hepburn (ODT): Council amalgamation proposal rejected (paywalled)
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): The southern council with almost 50 vacant roles
Alexa Cook (RNZ): Hawke's Bay residents outraged over council's proposed water rate hike
AGED CARE
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): Revealed: Why aged care costs could rocket for some Kiwis
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): Aged care investigation: Blind and deaf 98-year-old died in isolation
Vanessa Pratley (Consumer NZ): The “gut-wrenching” update to the Retirement Villages Act review
Julie Jacobson (Post): Dying for a payout ‒ a David vs Goliath battle (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Post): Govt urged not to drop asset limits for fully paid old-age care as funding crisis hits sector (paywalled)
Sarah Curtis (Northern Advocate): 101 Northland retirement villagers join group amid payout delay frustrations
Julie Jacobson (Post): Retirement village profitability report shows long haul to profit
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Retirement villages operating on razor thin margins, report shows
HOUSING, RMA
Dave Armstrong (Herald): Derelict flats a symbol of city neglect (paywalled)
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): The Gordon Wilson flats saga reaches the funniest possible conclusion
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Housing project cuts ‘perfect storm’ for rise in homelessness (paywalled)
atthew Martin (Waikato Times): Flagstaff state homes plan KO’d by Kāinga Ora (paywalled)
ENVIRONMENT, FAST-TRACK, MINING
Andrea Vance (Post): Shane Jones wants to strip Conservation Department’s concession powers (paywalled)
Sam Olley (1News): Urgent Otago meetings held to oppose fast-tracking gold mine (paywalled)
Katie Todd (RNZ): Local opposition to Central Otago goldmine conducts public meetings
Lois Williams (Local Democracy Reporting): West Coast Regional Council chief executive calls for more staff as goldmine delays bite
Robin Martin (RNZ): Iwi must deal with us 'whether they want us or not' - seabed miners
Eloise Gibson (RNZ): Ministers quizzed over bottom trawling, freshwater, axing Predator Free 2050
INFRASTRUCTURE
Vernon Small (Post): Infrastructure spend? Important. Protecting projects from future governments? Priceless (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Government, Opposition scrap over common infrastructure ground
TRANSPORT
David Williams (Newsroom): $170m promised for EV chargers yet to materialise
Adam Pearse (Herald): Three bidders confirmed for next Northland Expressway section
RNZ: Bidders for Northern Expressway public private partnership revealed
Azaria Howell (Herald): Treasury ‘got it wrong’ predicting KiwiRail to fall short of financial target, Winston Peters says (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Winston Peters’ plan to make rail great again (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Mt Victoria tunnel ground-breaking promise down to the wire (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Post): Fletcher Building and partner settle motorway dispute with NZTA (paywalled)
Justin Wong (Post): New Melling interchange and bridge to cost taxpayers $740 million (paywalled)
HEALTH
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Abuse compensation claims has cost ACC $50 million so far
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): ACC only releases 1% of $3.6b set for expanded injury claims (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The ACC system still doesn't work
Jimmy Ellingham (RNZ): Hospital staff concerned about combined cleaner-security officer roles
Mary Williams (ODT: Hospital stall due to contract
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): GPs to get extra funding in agreement government hopes will lead to faster healthcare
Stuff: GPs to see largest funding boost in NZ history, health minister says
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Seymour’s ‘light up’ message alarms tobacco researchers
Ava Whitworth (Stuff): David Seymour goes for winter solstice swim pushing pharmacy-first health message
Ivor Popovich (Spinoff): ‘Punitive and suffocating’: a doctor’s view of the working environment for nurses (excerpt)
Mariné Lourens (Press): What life is like as an ICU doctor in Christchurch Hospital (paywalled)
Ruth Spearing (Post): The flagship, innovative, ingenious health company that Pharmac has blocked (paywalled)
ENERGY
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Shane Jones attacks gas exploration ban, calls for apology from former minister in fiery Parliament hearing (paywalled)
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones vows to restart oil, gas industry
RNZ: Stewart Island solar farm to fight high power prices gets funding
RNZ: New Zealand's major power companies join forces to improve energy security
Blayne Slabbert (Press/Post): Apps could help households cut power costs (paywalled)
Cartoons
If you want to understand the invisible hands shaping our world, look beyond the obvious halls of power. Time and again, financial interests — the money masters — have learned to hide their intentions behind society’s most sacred institutions: our churches and our parliaments.
Think back to the British and Dutch East India Companies. Chartered with royal approval, given the moral cover of Christian missionaries, these were commercial enterprises that became empires. They spoke the language of salvation and civilization, but their true gospel was profit — flowing straight into the hands of a tiny elite.
Fast-forward to the murky world of Vatican finances. Figures like Roberto Calvi — dubbed “God’s banker” — reveal the rotten intersections between sacred authority and secretive financial dealings. Religion was not simply a sanctuary; it was manipulated into a shield and, too often, a financial funnel.
And what of the modern “independent” central banks that run our money supply? Institutions like the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are officially beyond politics, yet their decisions echo in every home and pocketbook — often benefiting those who already hold the most. In this light, democracy is left to put on a show while the real power plays happen elsewhere.
This parasitic embrace is centuries old. The Anglican Church lent its voice to British colonial ambition. Churches spoke of civilizing missions while colonial companies pillaged. Democracy was co-opted to legalize what empire had decided in advance. Religion and elected bodies became the moral props that allowed private capital to conquer new frontiers.
This is banker imperialism at work — subtle, seductive, and profoundly dangerous. Wherever they go, these money masters wrap themselves in a halo of respectability. Religion provides them righteousness; democracy offers them a facade of consent.
And as long as we don’t see this clearly, we will keep allowing them to hollow out the institutions we depend on most.
Recognizing the pattern is the first act of resistance. Without that, we’re just props on someone else’s stage, blessing their next conquest as if it were our own.